1. Language universals EXFAC03-AAS v12
Introduction: The lecturer
,filfil, istihoti, պղպեղ ,ﻓﻠﻔﻞ ,peper, piper, ቁንዶ ብርብሪ, kundo berbere bghbegh, jaluk, бибәр, biber, piperra, перац, perats, golmarich, p’ilp’il, pebr, пипер, pipar, nayukon, pεpε, pebre, 胡椒, hú-jiāo, pwav, papar, pepř, EXFAC03-AAS v12 peber, peper, ẹkhiẹn, pepper, pipor, pipro, pipar, pippuri, poivre, shitor, pementa, kamulali, პილპილი, pilpili, pfeffer, pheffur, pheffar, πιπέρι, pilpel, िमच,र् mirch, kua txob, hwj ,פלפל ,pipéri, mari, pipa, màsóoróo, pepa Language txob, bors, ose, merica, lada, pilipili, piobar, pepe, 胡椒, koshoo, mrica, ಣಸು, menasu, mòsóró, Бұрыш, burış, bogij, mrech, nduru, ndũrũ, пе̄рэц , pierec, муруч, muruch, 후추, huchu, phik noi, pipari, pipirai, 1: Language universals бибер, biber, dipoàvatra, lada, mulagu, bżar, kutuŋ, поваарь, povaair, ,ﻓﻠﻔﻞ ,pepee, pherefere, gola maricha, hudʒau, nthänts'i, (kali) marich philphili, pieprz, pimenta, pebre, peure, kaxlan q’een, pepšo, перец, perets, marica, pë́pë, бибер, biber, dipwav, miris, peprovník, poper, pjepjeŕ, pepere, pimienta, pepre, pilipili, peppar, paminta, மிளகு, milagu, řfəřfəř, savyamu, พรกไทย,ิ phrík thai, fowarilbu, pepa, viriviri, perehere, ,mirch, eribo, phiriphiri, hạt tiêu ,ﮐﺎﻟﯽ ﻣﺮچ ,meko, pimenta, перець, perets ,fefer, ata, uphepha ,פעפער ,Steve Pepper
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Introduction: Course contents The lectures
Kort om emnet 1. Universals Amharic (amh) Î ቁንዶ ብርብሪ (kundo berbere) (filfil) ﻓﻠﻔﻞ Emnet består av to deler: 2. Typology Arabic (ara) Î ● Språk: Innføring i lingvistisk analyse (pilpel) פלפל basert på eksempler fra språk i Asia Hebrew (heb) Î og Afrika. 3. Language families ● Kultur: ... 4. Language contact Hindi (hin) Î िमचर् (mirch) Etter avlagt og bestått eksamen skal du: Î こしょう (koshoo) ● kunne anvende lingvistisk analyse på 5. Language variation Japanese (jpn) 胡椒 / relevante asiatiske og afrikanske Î (hú-jiāo) språk, med et konsekvent sammen- 6. Summary Chinese (zho) 胡椒 lignende fokus på bl.a.universalier og (filfil) ﻓﻠﻔﻞ typologi, språkfamilier og område- (or perhaps a film?) Persian (fas) Î trekk, dialekter og sosiolekter; (marica) ● ... Sanskrit (san) Î मिरचं Turkish (tur) Î biber (biber)
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Comparing three Language universals languages
Topics – Lexicon vs. grammar Japanese ● Kinds of universals – Form & meaning shiyoonin ga uma ni mizu wo ageta – absolute, statistical, servant NOM horse DAT water ACC gave implicational – Arbitrariness ● Explanations for – Double articulation Arabic universals – Lexical universals ´actˠā l-khādimu l-ħisˠāna mā´an – monogenesis, innateness, gave the-servant-NOM the-horse-ACC water-ACC language contact, function – Colour terms Fula ● Specific examples of – Word classes universals – Speech sounds suka hokkii puccu ndiyam – … servant gave horse water
IPA: http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/
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Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk (IKOS) 1 1. Language universals EXFAC03-AAS v12
Differences Similarities
Japanese Meaningful units Meaning components Three obvious shiyoonin ga uma ni mizu wo ageta ● Sentences consisting of ● Sentence expresses an differences servant NOM horse DAT water ACC gave words event consisting of an ● Pronunciation Arabic “action” (giving) and three ´actˠā l-khādimu l-ħisˠāna mā´an Form and meaning ● Word order participants gave the-servant-NOM the-horse-ACC water-ACC ● Each word has a fixed ● Case marking Fula pronunciation and semantic Word classes suka hokkii puccu ndiyam content ● Action referred to with a verb, servant gave horse water Two less obvious Sound units the participants with nouns differences ● Pronunciation can be Syntactic functions ● Meanings (e.g. ‘servant’) analyzed as syllables made ● Participants perform different up of vowels and grammatical functions ● Arabic sentence non- consonants (subject, direct object, indirect idiomatic (cf. ´arwā or object)
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Three kinds of Explanations for universals universals
Absolute universals Monogenesis (lit. “single birth”) ● Properties found in all languages ● “All languages derive from the same proto-language” – “All languages have vowels and consonants” Language contact Statistical universals ● Languages constantly influence each other ● Properties found in most languages, but not all – “Subjects tend strongly to precede objects” Innateness Implicational universals ● “Language structure is genetically determined” ● Property A implies property B (but not necessarily Function vice-versa) ● Ease of use (fitness for purpose) based on cognitive, – “If a language has voiced fricatives, it also has unvoiced anatomic or other considerations fricatives, but not necessarily the other way round”
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Differences between Lexicon and grammar lexicon and grammar
All languages make use of two basic components Objects Form Complexity Lexicon LEXICON individual items strings of sounds whole GRAMMAR general rules structural patterns combination ● Mental dictionary containing all lexical items /sli:p/ (e.g. words and fixed expressions) ‘to take repose by the natural The distinction is not absolute – horse, run, beautiful, kick the bucket, sleep, … suspension of consciousness’ ● What is a rule? Grammar – (is will a lexical item or a grammatical marker?) ● Rules or patterns for combining lexical items ● Grammatical meaning not only expressed through structure – (also affixes and function words, e.g. plural -s, perfect marker have)
Peter will come! Subject AUX Verb Will Peter come? AUX Subject Verb ● Lexicon contains many complex items in which grammatical structure enters into the lexicon STATEMENT: That X will do Y QUESTION: Whether X will do Y – children, kindness, milk-shake, kick the bucket
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Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk (IKOS) 2 1. Language universals EXFAC03-AAS v12
Form and meaning Meaning and form
Language is a medium of All languages consist of pairings of form and meaning || concept communication signifié ● Saussure’s linguistic sign sound pattern Ideas (meaning) are – sound pattern (signifiant) and [tɹi:] signifiant transmitted using speech concept (signifié) sounds (form) The meaning of a lexical item is different from its reference Saussure (the “father of Person A produces speech sounds – form – to transmit ideas – meaning – from his mind ● The English word ‘tree’ represents a modern linguistics”) used to the mind of person B. mental concept the diagram on the right in Person B more or less successfully ● It exists in the mind of the speaker as his famous Cours de reconstructs the ideas of person A in his a psychological entity own mind on the basis of the sound waves linguistique generale (1916) that his ears pick up. ● The actual trees found in the physical world all belong to the reference of the word ‘tree’, not to its meaning
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Form as both physical The components of and psychological entity language
The same distinction applies to form Also the main components semantics ● phonetic form is concrete and physical (sound waves) of the study of language – ● psychological form varies from language to language linguistics An example from English and Korean ● semantics – meaning lexicon grammar ● English [ph] and [p] are perceived as the same sound even though ● phonology –form they are phonetically distinct ● lexicon and grammar are phonology – cf. pill [phɪl] and spill [spɪl] “intermediaries” ● Korean [ph] and [p] are perceived as different sounds Grammar usually divided Syntax – cf. 팔 [phal] ‘arm’ and 발 [pal] ‘leg’ into two parts ● studies how words are combined ● syntax The physical sounds (phones) [ph] and [p] are two distinct Morphology phonemes in Korean, and a single phoneme in English ● morphology ● the internal structure of words
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The relationship between form and meaning. Arbitrariness. Temporal iconicity
In general the relationship is arbitrary I came, I saw, I conquered –(LAT: Veni, vidi, vici) But it can also be motivated or iconic ● Order of clauses reflects order of events Arbitrariness in lexical items Principle extends to other grammatical structures ● ‘tree’ = arbre mti ju tlugvi FRA SWA JAP CHR ●Giveninformation tends to precede new information ●/ni:/ = nine NOR DAT JAP I HAU you (sg) ZHO ● If-clause tends to precede then-clause in conditionals Motivation in grammatical structures ● Clauses expressing cause tend to precede clauses ● milk + shake = milk shake expressing effect ● hen + -s = hens Iconicity Such principles are not absolute, but strong universal ● Involves some kind of resemblance between form and meaning tendencies
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Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk (IKOS) 3 1. Language universals EXFAC03-AAS v12
Non-arbitrary lexical Non-arbitrary lexical items (1 & 2) items (3 & 4)
Arbitrary sound-meaning correspondence (lexical items) 3. Parental terms 4. Sound symbolism ● Four exceptions to this general rule ● Suprisingly similar across the ● Habitual association between world certain sounds and meanings 1. Interjections 2. Onomatopoeia – Consonants with full oral closure – usually language-dependent (stops and nasals) – [p], [d], [m], ● takete and maluma ● Between body language ● Sound-imitating words [n], etc. and spoken language ● Imitate either the actual sound – Consonants articulated in the front ●tut[!] (alveolar click) – bang, swish, ... part of the oral cavity (labials and dentals) – not [k], [g] – one or twice: disapproval ● Or the source of the sound – Syllables with a single consonant – many times: wonder, positive – cuckoo, ping-pong, murmur, ... amazement followed by a single vowel – [ma], ● Form usually conforms to the [pa], etc. ●hmm, hmph, hng ●mikataand teki sound pattern of the language – Open vowels – [a] rather than [i] – afterthought, question, … – one means ‘friend’, the other – cf. oink ENG, nöff SWE, soch CYM, – Often reduplicated – [mama], ‘enemy’ ● English hey, Chinese ei, wei kkool-kkool KOR, khryu-khryu RUS, [papa], etc. – which is which? – get attention, greeting ut-it VIE
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Double Duality of patterning articulation in human language Hockett 1960
Also known as duality of Its universality is not patterning (Hockett 1960) accidental ● Meaningful lexical items (words, ● Without it, each lexical item Construct etc.) are built from meaningless (meaning) would have to be level MorphemesMorphemes WordsWords SentencesSentences sounds (phonemes) expressed by a unique sound ●[k], [æ], [t] Î [kæt], [tæk], [ækt] ● Would limit the lexicon to at (‘cat’, ‘tack’, ‘act’) most a few hundred items Languages typically have Humboldt: Language is the “infinite use of finite means” ● 10,000s of lexical items Building (morphemes, words, idiomatic ● Double articulation an block PhonemesPhonemes MorphemesMorphemes WordsWords expressions) important aspect of this level ● But only between 10 and 100 Sometimes applied to other PHONOLOGY MORPHOLOGY SYNTAX phonemes “building block” constructs in language…
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Lexicalization ‘Cousin’ in Chinese
If lexical items represent concepts, do languages lexicalize concepts in the same way? R tánggē ‘elder male paternal cousin’ E R E LD G O N Certainly not all concepts There are probably no tángdì ‘younger male paternal cousin’ U O ● There are many ways to carve precise lexical universals tángjiě ‘elder female paternal cousin’ Y up semantic space ● approximate only tángmèi ‘younger female paternal cousin’ Eight ZHO words for ‘cousin’ ● statistical rather than absolute biǎogē ‘elder male maternal cousin’ PATERNAL ● differentiates according to Examples: MATERNAL (1) gender, (2) relative age, biǎodì ‘younger male maternal cousin’ ●‘water’ (3) paternal vs. maternal biǎojiě ‘elder female maternal cousin’ – JAP mizu = ‘cold water’ – MALE English has not lexicalized e.g. – YEE arm = ‘liquid’ biǎomèi ‘younger female maternal cousin’ ‘elder male paternal cousin’ ‘cousin’ FEMALE ●‘mother’ – Chinese has not lexicalized ‘cousin’ – KDD ngunytju = (polysemous)
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Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk (IKOS) 4 1. Language universals EXFAC03-AAS v12
black ● white ● red ● green ● yellow ● blue ● brown ● purple ● pink ● orange ● grey Berlin & Kay (1969)
Basic colour terms WHITE BLACK Stage I 9 languages: 7 New Guinea 1 Congo 1 South India Colour terms of great interest Berlin & Kay discovered a pattern WHITE BLACK RED Stage II 21 languages: 2 Amerindian 16 African 1 Pacific ● Colours are a continuum ● Two terms = black and white 1 Australian Aboriginal 1 South India ● Can be defined quite precisely ● Three terms = black, white and red WHITE BLACK RED GREEN Stage IIIa ● Directly perceived through one of the ●etc. 8 languages: 6 African 1 Philippine 1 New Guinea basic senses WHITE BLACK RED YELLOW Stage IlIb Stage # of Colours Languages vary greatly terms 9 languages: 2 Australian Aboriginal 1 Philippine 3 Polynesian 1 Greek (Homeric) 2 African ●ENG: 11 basic terms (see above) I 2 WHITE BLACK RED GREEN YELLOW Stage IV ●LAT: lacked brown and grey II 3 18 languages: 12 Amerindian 1 Sumatra 4 African 1 Eskimo ●NAV: blue == green; 2x black III 4 OR WHITE BLACK RED GREEN YELLOW BLUE Stage V ● RUS: dark / light blue = синий [sinij] / 8 languages: 5 African 1 Chinese 1 Philippine 1 South India голубой [goluboj] IV 5 WHITE BLACK RED GREEN YELLOW BLUE BROWN Stage VI ●JPN: 青 [ao] = green, blue or pale V 6 5 languages: 2 African 1 Sumatra 1 South India 1 Amerindian ● HNN: 4 (black, white, red, green) VI 7 “COMPLETE” ARRAY OF COLOURS Stage VII ● Some PNG languages: 2: e.g. muli 20 languages: 1 Arabic 2 Malayan 6 European 1 Chinese 1 Indian (black/dark), mola (white/bright) VII 10 2 African 1 Hebrew 1 Japanese 1 Korean 2 South East Asian 1 Amerindian 1 Philippine
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Word class universals Nouns and verbs (1)
Concepts are given different Interjections A universal distinction Concepts are grammatical expression in ● The most unequivocably universal (?) grammaticalized differently different languages word class ● Prototypical noun refers to ● Functions performed by ENG a concrete entity prep performed by ZHO verb Words are classified into ● Often contain untypical sounds (substance or object) (and sound combinations) – ‘cut with a knife’ word classes (parts of – mass noun or count noun Î using [a] knife [to] cut – psst, mhm speech) ● Prototypical verb refers to a ● SMO verbs include numerals ● based on a mixture of Four subtypes (stative or dynamic) – ‘two men’ Î man being-two semantic and grammatical 1. expressive (ouch, oh, wow, aha) process criteria ● ENG ‘agree’ (verb) 2. directive (hush, psst, hey) But word classes are Î NOR enig (adj)* ● different languages have 3. phatic (mhm, yes, no, huh) different word classes flexible: ● ENG ‘hungry’ (adj) 4. descriptive ideophones (wham, Î FRA avoir faim (vb + noun) ● some word classes more or ●ENG love not a concrete thud, bang) substance less universal – ●ENG year not a concrete interjections, nouns, verb object
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Nouns and verbs (2) Adjectives
Syntactic consequences Distinction not always clear-cut Not a universal category Adjectives have two basic ● Events typically expressed by ● giving (participle) is a verb with ● ZHO, most S-E Asian languages functions verbs, participants by typically noun-like features – no distinction between verbs and 1. to denote properties expressed by nouns (NPs) ● belief (derived nominal) is a noun adjectives 2. to denote states Morphological with verb-like features ● I-E languages I-E languages emphasize consequences Reports of languages that lack – adjectives a large, open class with noun-like properties property aspect ● Inflected for different the noun-verb distinction ● JPN has two types ● adjectives closer to nouns categories: ● e.g. American Indian: ● stative aspect achieved using – i-adjectives (verb-like) – ENG nouns: number; verbs: – the copula (to be) no nouns meaning ‘X’, only verbs – na-adjectives (noun-like) complex TAM, person, number meaning ‘to be X’ – the man is tall – ● Many African languages JPN nouns: uninflected; verbs: ● possibly due to incomplete ZHO and S-E Asian langs. complex TAM, politeness understanding of the language – adjectives either non-existent – ZHO nouns and verbs: (verbs used instead), or a very emphasize state aspect ● in any case, a very marginal minor, closed word class uninflected but distinguished ● adjectives closer to verbs syntactically phenomenon
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Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk (IKOS) 5 1. Language universals EXFAC03-AAS v12
Universals of speech Universals of speech sounds – vowels sounds – consonants
Average inventory size 5-6 Universals Average inventory size 23 2) Most languages distinguish ● From 3 up to 46 or more (but 1) All languages make a distinction ● Rotokas (West Bougainville; between coronal and dorsal WALS has from 2 to 14) between close and open vowels Papua New Guinea) has just 6: consonants ● 3-vowel systems (e.g. Moroccan 2) All languages make a distinction /p, t, k, b, d, g/ ● i.e. tip/blade (/d/, /ɳ/, /s/, /ʒ/) Arabic) “always” have /i/, /u/, /a/ between front and back vowels ●!Xóõ(Taa; Southern Khoisan; or mid-back (/j/, /ɲ/, /g/, /x/) (maximally different acoustically) 3) The number of distinctions tends to Botswana) has 122 [WALS…] – Hypothetical 3-vowel system with be higher in the more close vowels Universals can be described in 3) All languages distinguish /i/, /y/, /e/ would be uneconomical than in the more open vowels between obstruents and and unduly burdensome terms of place of articulation Î This applies to both front vs. back sonorants ● Common 5-vowel system (e.g. and manner of articulation: and to rounded vs. unrounded ● i.e. obstructed (i.e. stops /p/, /d/, Swahili, Spanish, Japanese) 1) All languages distinguish /g/ and fricatives /f/, /z/, /ç/, /x/) Front Back between labial and lingual or unobstructed (i.e. oral /w/, /j/ Front Back Close /i/ /u/ consonants and nasal /m/, /n/) Close /i/ /u/ Mid /e/ /o/ Open /a/ Open /a/ ● i.e. lower lip (e.g. /b/, /m/, /f/)
Typical 3-vowel system Typical 5-vowel system or tongue (/d/, /n/, /ç/, /k/)
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Universals of speech sounds – phonotactics Next week: Linguistic typology
Vowels and consonants are Universals Further reading on universals combined into syllables 1) All languages have syllables ● Comrie, Bernard. 1989. Language universals and linguistic Phonotactic rules vary widely ending in a vowel (open syllables), but not all languages have typology (second edition). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ●CV only: Hawaiian, Mba syllables ending in a consonant ● Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. Universals of language. Cambridge, ● (C)V only: Fijian, Igbo, Yareba (closed syllables) [xVC ⇒ xV] MA: MIT Press. ● No C clusters: Swahili, Turkish, 2) All languages have syllables with ● Hockett, Charles F. 1960. The origin of speech. Scientific Japanese, Chinese, Maori) an initial consonant, but not all American, 203, 88–111. ●Maximum two Cs: Thai languages have syllables without an initial consonant [Vx ⇒ CVx] ● Song, Jae Jung. 2001. Linguistic typology: morphology and ● Three or more Cs (rare): English syntax. Harlow: Longman. (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C) 3) All languages that allow VC, also allow CVC and V, as well as the ● Whaley, Lindsay J. 1997. Introduction to typology: the unity and – /stɹɛŋkθs/ strengths universal CV. diversity of language. London: Sage. ● Close to unique: Thus Turkish ev ‘house’ implies – NOR skjelmskt KAT /gvbrdɣvnis/ CV, V, CVC as well as VC
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Glossar (1) Glossar (2)
adjective adjektiv grammar grammatikk onomatopoeia onomapoetikon sentence setning alveolar alveolar indirect object indirekte object open åpen sign tegn alveoli [L] gom innate medfødt oral munn-, oral sonorant sonorant aspect aspekt interjection interjeksjon part of speech (Î word class) state tilstand auxiliary hjelpeverb labial labial participant deltaker statement utsagn back bakre labium [L] leppe participle partisipp stop lukkelyd, plosiv case marking markering av kasus lexicalization leksikalisering phone fon subject subjekt close trang lexicon leksikon phoneme fonem syllable stavelse cognitive kognitiv lingua [L] tunge phonetic fonetisk syntax syntaks concept begrep lingual lingual phonologisk fonologisk TAM (Î tense, aspect, modality) consonant konsonant meaning betydning phonology fonologi tense tempus dens (pl. dente) [L] tann mid midtre phonotactic fonotaktisk universal universale, dental dental monogenesis monogenese phonotax fonotax universalt språktrekk direct object direkte object mood modus pronunciation uttale unrounded urundet double articulation dobbel artikulasjon morpheme morfem property egenskap unvoiced ustemt event hendelse morphology morfologi proto-language protospråk verb verb form form nasal nasal, nasallyd reference referanse voiced stemt fricative frikativ noun substantiv rounded rundet vowel vokal front fremre object objekt semantic content semantisk innhold word class ordklasse gender kjønn, genus obstruent obstruent semantics semantikk word order ordstilling
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Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk (IKOS) 6