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Introduction to Language. Deny A. Kwary www.kwary.net. The Textbook. Introduction to Language By. Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams. The Course Materials. Open: www.kwary.net Click: Linguistics Click: Introduction to Language Download the lecture materials. What is Language?.
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Introduction to Language Deny A. Kwary www.kwary.net
The Textbook Introduction to Language By. Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams The Course Materials • Open: www.kwary.net • Click: Linguistics • Click: Introduction to Language • Download the lecture materials
What is Language? Language is the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.
The Creativity Aspect of Language • Human language must be creative: allowing novelty and innovation is response to new thoughts, experiences, and situations
Linguistic Knowledge • Knowledge of the Sound System: Knowing what sounds are in that language and what sounds are not. • Knowledge of Words: Knowing the sound units that are related to specific meanings. • Knowledge of Sentences: Knowing how to form sentences.
Linguistic Performance: How you use this knowledge in actual speech production and comprehension. Linguistic Competence: What you know about a language.
Prescriptive Grammar • 1762; Bishop Robert Lowth; A Short Introduction to English Grammar with Critical Notes. • I don’t have none • You was wrong • Mathilda is fatter than me I don’t have any You were wrong Mathilda is fatter than I • Many of those rules were based on Latin grammar. Latin was assumed as the respected scientific language in the 15th – 17th Centuries.
Descriptive Grammar • 1985; Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik; A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. • Based on a corpus of actual spoken and written English.
That’s all for today See you next week www.kwary.net