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    Linguistics Intro

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    Linguistics Intro

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    12 views22 pages

    Linguistics Intro

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    BE 005

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    You are on page 1of 22

    What, Why, How Linguistics?

    Chea Sim University of Kamchaymear

    MA in TESOL

    Course: Phonetic and Phonology


    Can you answer
    these questions?
    1. What is the difference between a ‘knight’ and
    ‘knave’?
    2. What do you eat with your ghoti?
    3. How many words are there in the sentence
    ‘The cats talked and the dogs walked’ 7, 6?
    4. Do sentences grow on trees?
    5. Can ‘Colourless green ideas sleep furiously’ ?
    6. Who taught you to speak?

    Linguistics can help us to find the answers…


    Can you answer
    this question?
    Q. What is the difference between a
    knight and a knave?
    A. Time

    Why?
    ‘Knave’ and ‘knight’ both meant ‘boy’ once.
    They now mean opposing things.
    Meanings of words and pronunciation
    change over time.
    Historical Linguistics

    Etymology is the study of the historical


    development of words, which is part of
    Historical Linguistics.
    Can you answer
    this question?
    Q. What do you eat with ghoti?
    A. Chips
    Why?
    If we take the [gh] from ‘laugh’, the [o] from "women"
    and the [ti] from ‘nation’ the word ghoti can be
    pronounced fish. We spell some words in English in
    ways which bear no resemblance to the way they are
    pronounced.

    Ghoti was invented by the playwright George


    Bernard Shaw to show the illogicality of English
    spelling.
    Phonetics and Phonology

    These are the areas of Linguistics that


    deal with the study of the sound system of
    a language (Phonology) and the scientific
    study of speech processes (Phonetics).
    Can you answer
    this question?
    Q. How many words are there in the
    sentence ‘The cats talked and the dogs
    walked’ 7, 6, or both?
    A. Both
    Why 7?
    It all depends what you mean by word
    because the word ‘word’ is ambiguous.
    If the question means ‘How many word
    forms’ then the answer is 7
    (sometimes this is referred to as
    7 word tokens).
    Can you answer
    this question?
    Q. How many words are there in the
    sentence ‘The cats talked and the dogs
    walked’ 7 or 6?
    A. Both
    Why 6?
    If we mean ‘how many different
    word forms’, then the answer is 6
    since there are two ‘the’s
    (sometimes referred to as word
    types).
    Can you answer
    this question?
    Q. Do sentences grow on trees?
    A. Yes
    Why?
    Sentences are structured strings of words.
    The string of words ‘Sentences grow on trees’ is
    recognisable as a well-formed sentence of English. By
    contrast ‘sentences grow trees on’ or ‘trees on grow
    sentences’ are simply word salad.
    One way to show that sentences have structure is to
    identify which words go together to form units. So ‘on
    trees’ is a unit (Where do sentences grow?); so is ‘grow
    on trees’ (What do sentences do?) and so is ‘sentences’
    (what grow on trees?).
    However, the strings ‘sentences grow’ or ‘grow on’ do
    not relate to sensible questions and are not units in this
    sentence.
    Syntax
    Sentences also grow on trees like this…
    S

    NP VP

    N V PP

    P NP

    Sentences grow on trees


    Syntax
    Key

    S Sentence

    N Noun NP Noun Phrase

    V Verb VP Verb Phrase

    P Preposition PP Preposition Phrase

    The relations of words in sentences is from a


    branch of Linguistics called ‘Syntax’
    Can you answer
    zzz this question?
    Q. Can colourless green ideas sleep
    furiously?
    A. Yes and no!
    Why yes?
    Yes… because this sentence is grammatically
    correct – that is the nouns, verbs, adjectives are
    in the right place for an English sentence.
    Can you answer
    zzz this question?
    Q. Can colourless green ideas sleep
    furiously?
    A. Yes and no!
    Why no?
    No…because you can’t make sense of it in the ‘real
    world’. This demonstrates that it is not grammar alone
    that makes a sentence sensible, but the context in
    which it is created. In the ‘real world’ a colour can’t be
    colourless and an idea can’t be green.
    The world of the imagination is another matter,
    however!
    Semantics
    zzz

    The branch of linguistics dealing with


    meaning is called Semantics.
    Can you answer
    this question?
    Q. Who taught you to speak?
    A. You did
    Why?
    You might think that it is your parents who taught
    you how to speak, but you have really taught
    yourself. Certainly your parents offer you the ‘model’
    of the language or languages you are going to learn
    but you came into the world equipped with a kind of
    ready-made language processor that helped you to
    sort out how the language you were hearing actually
    worked.
    Working out the rules

    Have you ever heard a child say ‘I dided


    it’ or ‘I bringed it’? What do you think is
    going on here? They won’t have heard
    their parents saying these words, so
    where did they come from?
    Language Acquisition

    This is the branch of Linguistics that


    studies the ways in which children learn
    language. When Linguistics looks at how
    we learn a second or foreign language
    this is called Second Language
    Acquisition.
    So what precisely is
    Linguistics?

    "Linguistics is the science of language. It is


    the subject whose practitioners devote their
    energy to understanding why human
    language is the way it is. They study the
    history, acquisition, structure, and use of as
    many languages as possible - It would be
    nice to study them all, but life's too short."
    (Crystal: http://www.bangor.ac.uk/ling/whatis.htm)
    So what precisely is
    Linguistics?
    Since language enters into almost every area of
    human activity, the application of linguistic analysis
    can be extremely broad, encompassing almost any
    area where language is a practical concern.
    For example:
    language learning and teaching • language in
    new technologies • writing systems • dictionaries
    • translation • language issues • multilingual
    societies • linguistic difficulties • communication
    between different social, cultural, ethnic groups •
    endangered languages • linguistic input to
    computer systems • …and many more!
    Sounds interesting but
    what career will it lead to?

    Careers that would relate directly to


    Linguistics include the following:
    • information technology
    • translation and interpreting
    • education
    • speech and language therapy
    • publishing
    • research
    • dictionary writing
    What might a
    Linguistics Course look like?

    A typical BA in Linguistics might include:


    • Morphology and Syntax (Structure)
    • Phonetics and Phonology (Sound)
    • Semantics and Pragmatics (Meaning)
    • Language Acquisition
    • Sociolinguistics (Language and society)
    • Psycholinguistics (Language and the mind)
    • Historical Linguistics
    • Discourse (Language in use)
    Tell me more,more, more…!

    More ‘Why Study Linguistics’ links:


    http://www.lang.ltsn.ac.uk/whylinguistics.aspx

    ‘The collected works of the phantom linguist’:


    http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/index.html#linguist

    Linguistics courses:
    http://www.ucas.ac.uk

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