Language & Mind

1. Language & Mind HU2910 Summer 2011

2. IndoEuro expansion: 4th m BCE

3. IE expansion: 4th-3rd-2nd m BCE

4. IE expansion: 4th m  1m BCE

5. IE Lx: circa 1000 BCE

37. Ch 1 Introduction • Linguistics: The scientific study of language. • Rooted in our everyday knowledge of, thinking about, and talking about Lx • Takes a descriptive approach (vs. prescriptivist school-based approaches) • Empirically based: describes and accounts for patterns in speech and language

38. Linguistics-linked to many fields: • Humanities: philology & philosophy; language teaching • Social sciences: sociology, psychology, anthropology, & archaeology • Physical sciences: biology, physiology, physics, mathematics, & speech production/perception (cf. neurology)

39. Branches of linguistics • Phonetics: how to make sounds, the physics of sound waves, & how they are perceived. • Phonology: how sounds pattern in a Lx • Morphology: how words are made up of smaller meaningful units.

40. Branches of linguistics • Syntax: how words form sentences & how they relate to each other (with morphology, this is the core of grammar). • Semantics: involves the aspects of meaning in words and grammar. • Pragmatics: involves those aspects of meaning when put to use.

41. Branches of linguistics • Psycholinguistics: mental processes underlying Lx processing. • Neurolinguistics: focuses on the brain’s language processing activities.

42. Branches of linguistics • Typology • Historical linguistics • Sociolinguistics • Discourse analysis • Evolutionary linguistics

43. Signs (= form/meaning) • E.g. # $ % & hand gestures, words • Like a coin – both sides essential. • Iconic signs • Symbolic signs

44. Icons: • a form resembling its meaning in some way: the form shows some characteristic of the corresponding concept. It shows salient features in stylized ways, ignoring other features. • Some manual gestures are iconic: using digits for numbers, tight fist for fighting

45. Symbols • Form and meaning are related purely by convention, being established and acquired by repetition. N.B. Icons also always involve some degree of convention and arbitrariness.

46. Lx as a sign system • Symbolic signs in Lx: • Phonetic or orthographic does not equal ‘meaning’ • Iconic signs in Lx: • Onomatopoeia – bowwow, wanwan • Word lengthening - loooong • Reduplication

47. Onomatopoeia in Nihongo • Giseigo: sound imitation that reflects physical, audible noises relating to the action or mvmt of (in)animate objects. • Gachagacha = rattle • Chirinchirin = tinkle • Kasakasa = rustle

48. Onomatopoeia in Nihongo • Gitaigo: manner imitation that refers to feelings and figurative expressions about objects and natural surrounding, in which sound plays no part. • Tobotobo = plodding • Furafura = roam • Kirakira = twinkle • Betabeta = stick to • Gisshiri = packed full, crowded

49. Onomatopoeia in Nihongo • Often meaning has multiple layers: • Barabara = very strong rain; or things broken up, scattered or disorganized • Gorogoro = purring cat, rumbling noises but also manner, e.g discomfort caused by a lump, the way things are strewn around in abundance, or being idle

50. Reduplication – various derived meanings • Plural tree-> trees • Repetition kiss -> kiss a lot • Intensity see -> look at carefully • Scattered distribution house -> disprs’d • Space gnaw at -> on all sides • Continuation flash once -> is flashing • Smallness club -> small club • Past tense I leave -> I left