Theoretical Linguistics TRL811s

1. Theoretical Linguistics TRL811s Lecturer: Dr. Niklaas Fredericks Email: nfredericks@nust.na niklaas.fredericks@gmail.com Office tell: 0612072410 Consultation times: 8h00 – 16h00 Monday to Thursday

2. Language and Linguistics Human language, that unique characteristic of our species. What than is the difference between Language and linguistics?

3. Language vs Linguistic Language = Is a communication tool Linguistics = Is the study of the science of language

4. Communication • Occurs when one person acts with the intention of influencing the mind of another. E.g. Getting him entertain some idea.

5. Language, discourse, and communication • Language = is a means of communication. • Communication = necessitates the presence of at least two people: an addresser and an addressee. • Discourse = is a length of text which is coherent and complete

6. Examples • Language = Khoekhoegowab, Oshiwambo • Communication = letters, speeches • Discourse = Any writing

7. Activity • What are the major differences between language, Communication and Discourse? • Compose 2 examples of language, Communication, and Discourse • Where do language, Communication and Discourse overlap, and where do they differ? • 20 minutes

8. Grammar • Is a device for generating grammatical sentences (Chomsky, 1962) • Grammar is the art of writing

9. Traditional Grammar • Grammar derived from Latin or Greek roots • Latin is an organized language which can be broken down into clear classes or categories, the earlier Latin teachers started a system of analyzing languages by these categories. The books they wrote to explain their analysis of the structure of Latin were called grammars.

10. Traditional Grammar continued…. • They introduced the system of classifying words into parts of speech according to their meaning (e.g. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions. • This traditional approach is the foundation of all other approaches to language analysis which build on it.

11. Prescriptive vs Descriptive Grammar • Prescriptive = Thinking about language as incorrect/correct as good or bad etc. • Descriptive = Concerned with describing and understanding the linguistic behavior of community, without judging.

12. Structural Grammar • Their new way of analyzing language, using more formal approach and describing language according to its structure, led to their being called structural grammarians. • Structural linguistics involves collecting a corpus of utterances and then attempting to classify all of the elements of the corpus at their different linguistic levels: the phonemes, morphemes, lexical categories and syntax.

13. Devices indicating structural meaning • Word form • Function of words • Word order • Intonation & accent

14. Saussure’s view • Priority should be given to spoken language. Traditional grammar over emphasizes the written form • The spoken form is infinitely older and wider spread than written form. • Language is dynamic. Language change constantly and keep growing. • A modern linguist is interested in all languages.

15. Saussure’s Dichotomies • Langue and Parole • Diachronic and synchronic • Syntagmatic and paradigmatic • Signifier and Signified

16. Langue and Parole • Langue can be defined as the formal system of language: the units which make up that system and the relations between them. Speakers draw on knowledge of these system.

17. Parole • Parole : refers to any act of speaking (or using language) • Thus parole refer to the actual instances of language in use – when language is used for real communicative purposes.

18. Diachronic and Synchronic study of language • Diachronic study: Study a language over a given period of time. • Synchronic study of language: Study of language at a given moment in time

19. Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic • Saussure argues that a single sign is differentiated from other signs within the system in two ways (along two axes).

20. Paradigmatic axes • Refers to the range of option or choices one has at any point within the system

21. Syntagmatic axes • Refers to the way in which those signs are combined. These axes are also sometimes referred to as the rules of selection (paradigmatic) and rules of combination (syntagmatic).

22. Example • When referring to a child , we can choose from a number of words, including : Child, Kid, youngster

23. Signifier and signified • Signifier : refer to the form of the sign. Printed or spoken word e.g. Dog • Signified: refers to the meaning. Concept or meaning of the dog

24. Transformational-Generative Grammar • Explains that sentences can be derived from other sentences because language inherently has the ability to be generative. • Noam Chomsky. Looking at language in the eyes of a political scientist interested in cultures all over the world, caused him to think creatively about how language is generated (or made up) by babies all over the world, regardless of their culture or geography.

25. Chomsky’s Transformation generative approach • Discovered that languages all over the world have certain things in common, which we call Universal Grammar. • Sentence is generated by the application of the following rule. • Sentence NP + VP

26. Deep Structure • Is a structure generated only by phrase structure rules and lexical rules. • * not Niklaas past can sing well

27. Surface Structure • A deep structure that has be transformed into a grammatical English sentence • Niklaas could not sing well

28. Language Acquisition Acquisition usually refers to the gradual development of ability in a language by using it naturally in communicative situations.

29. Theories of child language acquisition • Behaviourist theories • The innateness hypothesis • Social Interactionism

30. Behaviourist Theories • This approach was underpinned by the belief that all behaviours (such as language learning) is a result of people (and animals) forming habits in response to stimuli in their environment. • Imitation: According to imitation theory, children acquire language by listening to and repeating speech. • Reinforcement: Children learn grammatical utterances through reinforcement

31. The innateness hypothesis • Ability to learn language is innate or genetically predisposed; all we need in order to acquire language is to exposed to it. There are specific areas in the brain designed to acquire language, the so-called Language acquisition device (LAD).

32. Social interactionism • Social interaction point to the importance of child care-giver interactions in the language acquisition process.

33. Language levels • Phonetics and Phonology • The lexicon • Morphology • Semantics • Syntax

34. Phonetics and phonology • Phonetics is the study of sounds which human beings produce to communicate through language • Phonology is the study of sound system of language

35. Place of Articulation Refers to where in the mouth the sounds are produced and how the articulators (Lips, tongue, teeth) are positioned during production of sounds. Bi-labial : Bi means two. When both lips come together and touch each other e.g. [b] in bag and [m] in man

36. Labio-dental The term originates from two Latin words: Labium (lip) and dens (tooth). Sounds are produced when lower lip lightly touches the upper teeth. Examples. [f] in farm

37. Dental • A Sound that is made when the tongue touches or comes near the upper teeth is called dental. E.g. initial sound in word think

38. Alveolar • These sounds are produced when the tip of the tongue touches or moves close to the alveolar ridge. The alveolar ridge is the from section of the upper part in the mouth, the gum ridge behind the teeth. Examples….

39. Palato-alveolar • Speech sounds articulated by bringing the front of the tongue in touch with the location between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. The palate is the hard area of the mouth behind the alveolar ridge. Examples. • …..Sheet, ship, wash • Treasure • Church • Judge

40. Palatal • Palatal sounds are produced when the tongue is raised towards the upper part of the mouth- the palate. Example:..

41. Velar • Velar sounds are produced by raising the back of the tongue against the velum. Behind the hard palate there is a soft area at the roof of the mouth.

42. Uvular • At the back of the velum, there is a small flap of tissue which hangs down. Contact between back of the tongue and the uvula produces uvular sounds.

43. Pharyngeal • Pharyngeal sounds are produced by constricting the walls of the pharynx. There are no such sounds in English.

44. Glottal • The glottis is the space between the vocal folds.

45. Manner of articulation • Plosives : are produced when focal vocal track is totally blocked. • Fricatives: No total blockage • Affricates: vocal • Liquids • Glides: • Nasals: Sounds produced with lowered velum so air flows into nasal cavity

46. Voicing • Voiced sound is produced when the vocal cords are together during airflow. The air forces its way through the vocal cords. • Voiceless sounds are recognised when there is no vibration of the vocal cords.

47. Phonemes • The meaning changing sounds in any language are called phonemes.

48. Minimal pairs • Minimal pairs comprises two forms or words with distinct meanings that differ by only one segment found in the same position in each of the two forms. Example.

49. Allophones • A variant of a phoneme. Allophones of a phoneme form a set of sounds that (1) do not alter the meaning of a word; and (2) are all very similar to one another.

50. Exercise • Name and explain the three parameters (features to describe consonants? • Write in Phonetic brackets the sound which fits the descriptions below. • A. Voiceless labiodental fricative • B. Velar nasal • C. Voiced alveolar stop • D. Voiceless alveolar fricative