Lesson 2

ExplainAnswerTrue or False?Name

40

30

20

10 10

20

30

40

10

20

30

40

10

20

30

40

Three questions that Linguistics tries to

answer.1) What is language?2) How does language work?3) How does human language differ from animal communication?

Main branches of Linguistics. (5)

1) Phonetics2) Phonology3) Morpho-syntax4) Semantics5) Pragmatics

Three differences between human language and animal

communication.

1) Connection between the signal and the message sent.

2) Creativity3) Patterning

8 design features of language.

1) Use of sound signals2) Arbitrariness3) Need for learning4) Duality5) Displacement6) Creativity7) Patterning8) Structure dependence

A linguist needs to speak all the languages he/she studies.

False. Not necessarily.

Duality is the organization of language in a layer of sounds which combine into a layer of

larger units.  

True

Linguistics is different from traditional grammar in the

sense that linguists regard the spoken language as primary,

rather than the written.

True

When animals vocally imitate human utterances, they possess

language.False.Even though animals are capable of faithfully reproduce words and phrases, their expressions carry no meaning to them.

What's the design feature displacement

about?It is about the ability to discuss objects and events that are removed in time and place.

How does Linguistics differ from Traditional

Grammar?• Linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive.

• Linguistics regard the spoken language as primary, rather than the written.

• Linguistics does not force languages into a Latin-based framework.

What's one similarity between human language and animal

communication?

They are both predestined to emerge.

What other branches (besides phonetics, phonology, morpho-

syntax, semantics and pragmatics) does Linguistics

have? Mention at least 3.• Psycholinguistics• Sociolinguistics• Applied linguistics• Computational linguistics• Stylistics• Anthropological linguistics• Philosophical linguistics.

Consider these two statements:

"I learned a new word today.""I learned a new sentence today.“Do you think the two statements are equally probable? If not, why?

A wolf is able to express subtle gradations of emotion by different positions of the ears, the lips and the tails. There are eleven postures of the tail that express self-confidence, lack of tension, depression, defensiveness, etc.Suppose that there were a thousand different emotions that the wolf could express in this way. Would you then say a wolf had a language similar to human's? If not, why not?

Although sounds and meaning of most words in all languages are arbitrarily related, there are some communication systems in which the "signs" unambiguously reveal their "meaning".

Describe different signs that directly show what they mean.

Can you think of other design features of language that are not mentioned?.

Historical LinguisticsHistorical Linguistics

Diachronic Linguistics

Comparative Linguistics

• Study of phonological, grammatical and semantic changes

• Reconstruction of early stages of language

• Application of methods to find genetic relationships among languages

Sir William JonesSir William Jones

Father of Linguistics1786

Indo-European Languages

Certain languages spoken from India to the European Atlantic shores recognized as belonging to one particular branch of the evolutionary tree of languages Protolanguage

The NeogrammariansThe NeogrammariansJunggrammatiker

1870

Hermann OsthoffAugust Leskien Hermann Paul Karl Brugmann

• Historical linguists

• Classical scholars

• They formulated sound correpondences in the Indo-European languages SOUND LAWS

“A sound change affects simultaneously all words in which its environment is met, without exception”

Example: in Italian, the phoneme /s/ can be pronounced as /z/ when surrounded by two vowels.

/s/ /z/ V_V casa Fusillo cosa

The Comparative MethodThe Comparative Method

Rasmus Rask Karl Verner Jacob Grimm

Technique for studying the development of languages by comparing feature-by-feature aspects of language to find a common ancestor.

Italian Galician Portuguese Maorinome nome nome

ingoapesce pesce peixeikadue dous dois ruanotte noite noitepo

Closely related

Related, less closely

unrelated

Portuguese

Galician Italian

nearer common ancestorGalaico-

Portuguese

common ancestorVulgar Latin

Language Family Tree

Galaico-Portuguese Latin

ATTESTED LANGUAGES

Surviving records

Documents written in those languages

* If the language can’t be attested, then the process of reconstruction is used.

TaskTask

In pairs, make a chart containing the following information:

Historical Linguistics

Key figures Ideas/thoughts/Major work

HomeworkHomework

Essay question #1:

How has comparative linguistics influenced in modern linguistics?

What has been the contribution?