Almen sproglig viden og metode (General linguistics)

Almen sproglig viden og metode(General linguistics)

CLM, engelskIntroduction to the Study of the English Language

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The position of English

• Where does it come from as a language?– Older forms of English

• Where has it gone?• How has it come to be as it is?

– Varieties of Modern English

Basque

Finno-UgrianWest

NorwegianFaroeseIcelandic

Eastern

Burgundian †

Gothic †

Northern

East

Danish Swedish

Western

Anglo-Frisian

English

Frisian

Germanic

IndoEuropeanLowGerman

Yiddisch

Southern

Middle High German

HighGerman

German

DutchWestFlemish

Plattdütsch

Africaans

Schwytzertütsch

Italic

Latin

French Spanish

Slavic Hellenic ...

… †

Italian ...

Old English(Caedmon’s Hymn, ca. 735)

Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard,Now shall-we praise heaven’s guardian,

metudæs maecti end his modgidanc,The-Lord’s might and his mind,uerc uuldurfadur; sue he uundra gi-huaes,work of-the-wonderfather; such-as he of-wonders of-each, eci Dryctin, or astelidæ. eternal Master, the-beginning made.He aerist scop aelda barnumHe first created men’s for-the-childrenheben til hrofe, haleg scepen.heaven for roof, holy creator.Tha middungeard, moncynnæs uard,Then mid-earth, mankind’s guardian,eci Dryctin, æfter tiadæeternal Lord, after ornamentedfirum foldu, frea allmectig.for-men the-earth, ruler allmighty.

Now let us praise the power, vision, and creation of God, for how he ordained the origin of every wonder.

First He created heaven as a roof for the children of men.

Then the Almighty ornamented the earth for mankind.

Middle English(The Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, ab. 1375)

Þus com, lo, Engelond in-to Normandies hond:And Þe Normans ne couÞe speke Þo bote hor owe speche,And speke French as hii dude atom, and hor children dude also teche,So Þat heiemen of Þis lond, Þat of hor blod come,HoldeÞ alle Þulke speche Þat hii of hom nome;Vor bote a man conne Frenss me telÞ of him lute.Ac lowe men holdeÞ to Engliss, and to hor owe speche ute.Ich wene Þer ne beÞ in al Þe world contreyes none Þat ne holdeÞ to hor

owe speche, bot Engelond one.Ac wel me wot uor to conne boÞe wel it is,Vor Þe more Þat a mon can, Þe more wurÞe he is.

Middle English(The Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, ab. 1375)Þus com, lo, Engelond in-to Normandies hond:And Þe Normans ne couÞe speke Þo bote hor owe speche,And speke French as hii dude atom, and hor children dude also teche,So Þat heiemen of Þis lond, Þat of hor blod come,HoldeÞ alle Þulke speche Þat hii of hom nome;Vor bote a man conne Frenss me telÞ of him lute.Ac lowe men holdeÞ to Engliss, and to hor owe speche ute.Ich wene Þer ne beÞ in al Þe world contreyes none Þat ne holdeÞ to hor owe speche, bot Engelond one.Ac wel me wot uor to conne boÞe wel it is,Vor Þe more Þat a mon can, Þe more wurÞe he is.

Thus came England into the hands of Normandy; and the Normans knew only their own language and they spoke French as they did at home, and they taught it to their children, so that lords from this land that came of their blood all held to the language that they brought with them from home; for unless a man can speak French they pay little respect to him. But common people stick with English, and just to their own language. I think that there is no country in all this world that does not stick with its own language, except England. But it seems to me that it is good to know both, for the more a man knows, the worthier he is.

English

• one language?

• or many?

NorthAmerica

RSA

India &SEA

AUS

NZ

The Expansion of English as Official Language

EastAfrica

Map showing where Modern English is coming from (Loanwords)

Turkish Loanwords in English:  

yoghurt   from  yog-  'knead, churn',      bosh  'nonsense'  <  bos,  'empty'    Jannissary   < yeni c, eri   'young soldiers'    Pasha    < pas,a   'roughly, Field Marshal'    uhlan   <oghlan   'boy, servant'    huzzah!   may be of Turkish origins.     sultan

bey roughly ’governor’

landscapeyachtdockBrooklyndeckbrandygasknapsackskippersketchdock

Dutch Loanwords in English

Scandinavian loanwords in English 

lawwindowilllooselivedietakeeggbread boththey, them

etc. etc. etc.

chapati

cheroot

coolie

corundum

curry

ginger

madras

mandala

mango

mulligatawny

orange

pariah

patchouli

poon

tatty

vetiver

Tamil Loanwords in English

candy

catamaran

avocadocacaocannibalcanoechipmunkchocolatechilihammockhominyhurricanemaizemoccasinmoosepapoose

Native American Indian Loanwords in English

pecanpossum,potatoskunksquawsuccotashsquashtamale (via Spanish)teepeeterrapintobaccotoboggantomahawk

Language as a means communication

• A model of communication• Language and languages

– Language system and language use• The creativity of language• The constraints of the Code

– Information packaging– Grammaticality and meaningfulness

Channel

Channel

A model of communication (After Roman Jakobson)

Context

Code

Message

Thought

Interpretation

Sender Receiver

Production and InterpretationTo communicate a thought by means of language, the sender must draw on three sources of information:

• his knowledge of the context of situation• his knowledge of the language that serves as code• his knowledge of how to encode the message, given

context and code

To interpret a message coded in a language, the receiver must also draw on three sources of information:

• his knowledge of the context of situation• his knowledge of the language that serves as code• his knowledge of how to decode the message, given

context and code

Language and Languages”(Human) languages can differ from each other without limit and in unpredictable ways”

Martin Joos, American linguist (1959)

Human languages are essentially the sameThe Language Instinct – Steven Pinker (Booktitle, 1995) Read it!

Features characteristic of all (and only) human languages• The ability to tell lies• The ability to speak about situations distant in space and time• ……

Language system and language useLangue et parole – Ferdinand de Saussure (1916)

Competence and performance – Noam Chomsky (1965)

Langue is an abstract system of signs – parole is the system in use

Language is an innate system of knowledge - performance is putting that knowledge to use

The creativity of language

’Everything can be said – and everything can be understood’

• The ’double articulation’ of language

• The principle of semantic compositionality

More characteristic features of human language:

Double articulation English has 45 phonemes, i.e. distinct spech sounds; among them, in random order:

/t//k//h/ /i//æ/ /n/ /Ɔ//s/ /z//đ/ …../Ə/

Double articulation

/đ

æ t//s æ t/

But it often only takes one phoneme to distinguish between words:

/k

æ t/

/h æ t/

’cat’

’sat’

’that’

’hat’

/t//k//h/ /i//æ/ /n/ /Ɔ//s/ /z//đ/ …../Ə/

Double articulation

/đ

æ t//s æ t//k

æ t/

/h æ t/

’cat’

’sat’

’that’

’hat’

First articulation: the level of phonemes

Second articulation: the level of words

/t//k//h/ /i//æ/ /n/ /Ɔ//s/ /z//đ/ …../Ə/

Semantic composition

hat cat sat that on the

Semantic composition

hat cat sat that on the

that cat sat on the hat

The meaning of a sentence is computed from the meanings of• the words it contains• the rules by which it is composed

*cat sat the that on hat

The Constraints of the Code on Communication

The organization of content (’meaning’): Information structure

The organization of expression (’form’):Grammar

Describing a situation…

What’sgoing onhere?

… like this

He swam across the

river

He swam across the river

Information packaging

agent: he did something

means: by using the river

act: type ’swimming’

manner: by swimming

result: he came to be at the other side

direction: from one bank to the other

He swam across the riverInformation packaging

agent:

means:

act:

manner:

result:

direction:

Han svømmede over floden

Il a traversé le fleuve à la nage

He crossed the river by swimming

?Han krydsede floden ved at svømme

Grammaticality and information packaging

He swam the riveragent:

means:

act:

manner:

result:

direction:

*Han svømmede floden

The grammar of English allows moreways to package infomation than thegrammar of Danish

Grammaticality and meaningfulness

Hun må kunne tale engelsk*She must could speak English

Hun kunne tale engelskShe could speak English

???Min skrivemaskine kan tale engelsk???My typewriter can speak English

?Min computer kan tale engelsk?My computer can speak English

A well-formed sentence is both grammatical and meaningful

This is a matter of difference between the grammars of Danish and English

This is as odd a thing tosay in English as in Danish

This is as questionable inDanish as in English

The components of language study

Sound

MeaningGrammar

Lexicon

Morphology

Syntax

Pragmatics

Semantics

PhoneticsPhonology

Politiken, Oh Danmark, 9.2.03

EN HÅRD NEGLEn 32-årig mand er stadig i livsfare efter at være blevet stukket ihjel uden for sin lejlighed i aftes.

(TV-Avisen)

MEN ALDRIG OM SØNDAGENEkstra hjælp lørdage – vi søger 2 personer, der ken- der hinanden hver anden lørdag.(Annonce i Ugeposten Helsinge)

LIGE NOGET FOR EN KONSERVATORHan er udstoppelig på kon-traangreb.(Berlingske Tidende)

JO – FOR IKKE AT SIGE UMULIGTEr det ikke en forældet ind-stilling at give arbejdet alt og familien resten.(Nyhederne i TV2)

DE SKU JO GERNE FØLE SIG HJEMMETo voldsramte kvinder har i årevis levet med bank, hash-misbrug og overgreb på fa-milien. Krisecentret gav dem håb og et spark frem-ad.(Grønlandsposten)

Semantisk

Syntaktisk

Leksikalsk

- fonologisk

Logisk

Pragmatisk -

Idiomatisk

Linguistic intuitions

That’s all for now !