LING 101 • Lecture outline
W Aug 19
Today’s topics:
• Introduction to this course
• What is linguistics?
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0. Course information
• Professor: Jennifer Smith
• Recitations and TAs:
Iyad Ghanim
601
F 10:10–11:00
Emily Andino
602
Yuka Muratani
603
F 11:15–12:05
Grant Huffman
604
- Be sure you are signed up for a recitation
• Textbook:
Contemporary Linguistics, 6th ed. (CL)
- Be sure you have the 6th edition
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0. Course information
• Course web site:
http://www.unc.edu/~jlsmith/ling101.html
• Check the daily syllabus page after every class to
find out about new readings and assignments
- Today’s entry has the “Course info and policies”
handout — download this and keep it
Remember to REFRESH your web browser to get the latest
version of a web page!
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0. Course information
• “Course info and policies” handout
Be sure you understand:
- Course requirements
- Homework policies
- Exam dates
• If
-
you have questions, feel free to
send any of us an e-mail
come to office hours
ask your recitation leader on Friday
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1. What is linguistics? What is language?
Linguistics is
the study of language
• What is language?
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1. What is linguistics? What is language?
Language is human
• Design features of language (Hockett 1960) include:
- Displacement: Can be about things that are
removed in space and time, or don’t exist
- Arbitrariness (see also Saussure): No logical
connection between sound and meaning
- Productivity: New thoughts can be expressed for
the first time
“No matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot
tell you that his parents were poor, but honest.”
— Bertrand Russell
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1. What is linguistics? What is language?
Language is universal
• All humans acquire at least one language,
given language input and normal development
• Note: Sign languages are languages!
• In this course, we will discuss child language
acquisition
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1. What is linguistics? What is language?
Language is social
• The sounds, words, and structures that we use can
signal our group membership or our identity
Vowel pronunciation and
use of “double negatives”
by Jocks and Burnouts in
a Detroit high school
(Eckert 2012)
• In this course, we will discuss social aspects of
language use
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1. What is linguistics? What is language?
Language is cultural
• Terms used by a society can provide information about the
structure or interests of that society
Turkish kinship terms, by Brian Schwimmer
https://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/case_studies/turkish/turkterm.html
• We won’t discuss cultural aspects very much in this course
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1. What is linguistics? What is language?
Language is biological
• Appears to have a critical period
- At least for first-language acquisition
• Proof of genes for language? Jury is still out (IMHO)
• Major debate in the linguistics/cognitive science
community about how much of the biologically endowed
linguistic system is language-specific vs. domain-general
• A main focus of this course will be investigating
the properties of a language system that a speaker
has acquired naturally (not through instruction)
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2. Linguistics and mental grammar
Linguists study grammar — but this doesn’t mean
what you might think
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2. Linguistics and mental grammar
Linguists study grammar — but this doesn’t mean
what you might think
• Prescriptive grammar: What people “should” say
- Useful for learning a foreign language, or
learning a particular style (formal writing, ...)
- NOT the focus of most research in linguistics
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2. Linguistics and mental grammar
Linguists study grammar — but this doesn’t mean
what you might think
• Descriptive grammar: What people do say
• Mental grammar: Linguistic competence
- “What do we know when
we know a language?”
• Linguistics typically focuses on descriptive and
mental grammars of native speakers
- Native speaker: Someone who acquires a
language from exposure, as a small child
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3. What is mental grammar?
What do we know when we know a language?
• Much of mental grammar is systematic —
unconscious “rules” / “principles”
Example #1: (rules not taught in school!)
• How is the plural pronounced?
cat[s] | Brackets indicate phonetic symbols
hen[z]
iguana__
giraffe__
wug__
This is a wug.
(image from Berko 1958)
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3. What is mental grammar?
What do we know when we know a language?
• Much of mental grammar is systematic —
unconscious “rules” / “principles”
• How is the plural pronounced?
cat[s]
hen[z]
iguana[z]
giraffe[s]
wug[z] — you know what to do with a ‘new word’
This is a wug.
(image from Berko 1958)
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3. What is mental grammar?
What do we know when we know a language?
• Much of mental grammar is systematic —
unconscious “rules” / “principles”
• Where, and why, [s] and [z]?
Some sounds are voiced Some sounds are voiceless
- Vocal folds are vibrating
he[n+z]
iguan[ə+z]
wu[g+z]
- Vocal folds not vibrating
ca[t+s]
gira[f+s]
→ Mental grammar uses
• Plurals match in voicing!
properties of sounds
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3. What is mental grammar?
What do we know when we know a language?
• Much of mental grammar is systematic —
unconscious “rules” / “principles”
Example #2: (rules not taught in school!)
• Who does himself refer to?
(a) Oscar admires himself.
(b) Oscar thinks Grover admires himself.
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3. What is mental grammar?
What do we know when we know a language?
• Much of mental grammar is systematic —
unconscious “rules” / “principles”
• English speakers agree:
(a) Oscar admires himself.
(b) Oscar thinks Grover admires himself.
• Why Grover, and not Oscar, in (b)?
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3. What is mental grammar?
What do we know when we know a language?
• Much of mental grammar is systematic —
unconscious “rules” / “principles”
• Now who does himself refer to?
(c) Oscar told Grover stories about himself.
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3. What is mental grammar?
What do we know when we know a language?
• Much of mental grammar is systematic —
unconscious “rules” / “principles”
• Now who does himself refer to? Two possibilities!
(c) Oscar told Grover stories about himself.
Oscar told Grover stories about himself.
- So it’s not simply the closest preceding option...
- Later in the course, we’ll find a solution to this
puzzle
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3. What is mental grammar?
More evidence for mental grammar:
• Children make systematic “mistakes” while
acquiring their language
• Human language is creative (productive)
- We can produce and understand novel
words/phrases/sentences
- A mental grammar is more than just a
memorized list
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4. Language varieties
• What do you call this kind of beverage?
[Image credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Sodas.JPG/800px-Sodas.JPG]
• Link: Words for fizzy beverages across the US, by
Alan McConchie
- Different terms are used in different regions
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4. Language varieties
• Does your mental grammar allow these examples?
(1) Feeding your cat is different to feeding your dog.
(2) I remember once, after the lads had finished their meal
and I was sat at the table finishing my cup of tea, the
farmer's wife came in and pushed the bench under the
table with me still sat on it.
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4. Language varieties
• Where the above examples came from:
(1) A blog called catsofaustralia.com
(2) Female British speaker, born 1921, now of
Harrogate, N. Yorkshire
• Which is correct, American English or Australian
English?
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4. Language varieties
• Which is correct, American English or Australian
English?
• ??? Does that question even make sense?
- An American English speaker has a mental
grammar that allows the constructions different
than [yes, really] or different from, but not different to
- An Australian English speaker has a mental
grammar that allows different to
- Both AmEng and AusEng have mental
grammars; they’re simply different
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4. Language varieties
• This point can be extended to the language variety
of any speech community
- No one’s language variety “has no grammar”
- No one’s language variety is any less (or more!)
logical than any other
- Every mental grammar is systematic
- Every mental grammar is interesting to, and
valued by, linguists
• What is a “standard” or “prestige” language
variety? One that got lucky! (historically, socially,
politically)
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5. Some points to keep in mind
• Spoken language, rather than written, is most
reflective of mental grammar
- Writing is often crafted (although “spontaneous”
writing is more like speech)
- Not all societies have written language, but all
have spoken [signed] language
• Linguistic performance does not necessarily reflect
linguistic competence (mental grammar)
- Speakers can make mistakes!
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5. Some points to keep in mind
• Why is mental grammar worth studying?
- Better understanding of human language(s)
- Insight into nature of human mind/brain
The languages of the world are incredibly diverse in
many ways. But there are also strong similarities in
the rules of mental grammar from language to
language. Linguists aim to develop a theory of
mental grammar that can account for both the
differences and the similarities.
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