INTRODUCTION TO English linguistics

1. INTRODUCTION TO English linguistics M. BOYD LM1 2017-18 3October 2017

2. What is this course? • Applied Discourse Analysis • Applied to Media Discourse, newspapers and broadcasting (First semester) and Political Discourse (Second semester) • Linguistic analysis of large pieces of text (written and spoken): news reports, news analyses, editorials, special news items, (political) speeches, debates, news conferences, etc. • Analysis of the way the speakers structure text and find the (possible) reasons for certain linguistic choices: are they used to highlight or obscure a certain point of view, ideology? • Exam: Written (Text/Discourse Analysis), 2 hrs.

3. What is linguistics? • It is the study of the structure of language or “how speakers create meaning through combinations of sounds, words, and sentences that ultimately result in texts – extended stretches of language (e.g. a conversation between friends, a speech, an article in a newspaper)” • “Like other scientists, linguists examine their subject matter – language – objectively. They are not interested in evaluating ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ uses of language...” (Meyer 2009: 2)

4. What is language? • “a code that allows us to represent thoughts and ideas by means of sounds (or letters). A special property of this code is that its symbols are complex; that is they have internal structure. This means that the sounds do no directly convey meanings. Units have a structure which is rule-governed… speakers of the language know these rules intuitively, although they are not able to say how.” • There are many different kinds of rule: “Some of them are concerned with the combination of sounds, some with the formation of phrases and sentences, and some with the assignment of meaning.” • “While the rules of a language allow us a great deal of freedom to say whatever we like, external circumstances often place constraints on this freedom” Kuiper & Allan (1996) An introduction to English language: Sound, word an sentence

5. Rules, grammar AND PRINCIPLES • rules: govern the pronunciation of sounds (phonetics, phonology), the ways words are put together (morphology), the manner in which phrases, clauses, and sentences are structured (syntax), and the ways that meaning is created (semantics) • principles/constraints: stipulate how the structures that rules create should be used (e.g. which forms are used in polite contexts, how to address a ‘superior’, etc.), PRAGMATICS, TEXT LINGUISTICS, DISCOURSE ANALYSIS • GRAMMAR, i.e. the rules or principles by which a language works, its system or structure

6. Prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar • Prescriptive grammar: “Standard languages often have prescriptive rules devised by people who believe languages need regulating, tidying up or protecting against change, and which are frequently codified in ‘usage guides’” (Swann, 2011, p. 563). • Many English rules were written in 18th and 19th c. by “grammarians”, who often thought that English grammar should imitate Latin, the prestige language. • It’s me orJohn and me saw a good film (typical of informal standard English): a nominative (subject) form is said to be ‘logically’ required in both cases, but choice between I and me depends on syntactic environment and level of formality. • Descriptive grammarattempts to describe languages without the preconceived notions of what a language should contain and how it should operate.

7. components of linguistics • Phonology • Phonetics • Morphology • Syntax • Semantics • Lexical semantics • Sentence semantics • Discourse semantics • Pragmatics

8. Organization of the text Phonology Morphology Semantics Syntax Pragmatics

9. levels of linguistic analysis I • SOUNDS: “Linguistic rules at this level describe how sounds are pronounced in various contexts” (Meyer, 2009, p. 2) • PHONETICS: concerned with the physical production and perception of speech sounds (sound-making): articulation, acoustics, etc. • PHONOLOGY: concerned with the sounds of a language that are distinctive in creating meanings (phonemes; distinctive features; minimal pairs) • pin ~ pen ~ pan ~ pawn [vowel phonemes /ɪ/ /ɛ/ /æ/ /ɔ:/ ~ /ɒ/] • big ~ pig ~ wig [consonant phonemes]

10. Practice with phonology How do you pronounce the following? • biscuit / circuit / cruise / bruise / fruit / conduit • chemistry / church / cello • blood / food / good What is the difference in pronunciation in the following? • sun / son • to / too / two • hour / our • write / right • aisle / isle / I’ll • brake / break • pin / pen / pan / pain / pawn / pine

11. practice with phonology How do you pronounce the following? • biscuit / circuit / cruise / bruise / fruit / conduit /ɪ/ vs. /u:/ • chemistry / church / cello /k/ vs. /tʃ/ vs /ʃ/ • blood / food / good /ʌ/ vs. /u:/ vs. /ʊ/ What is the difference in pronunciation in the following? • sun / son /sʌn/ • to / too / two /tu:/ • hour / our /aʊʳ/ ~ /aʊə/ • write / right /raɪt/ • aisle / isle / I’ll /aɪl/ • brake / break /breɪk/ • pin / pen / pan / pain / pawn / pine /ɪ/ /e/ /æ/ /eɪ/ /ɔ/ ~ /ɔː/ /aɪ/

12. practice with phonology How do you pronounce the following? • biscuit / circuit / cruise / bruise / fruit / conduit /ɪ/ vs. /u:/ • chemistry / church / cello /k/ vs. /tʃ/ vs /ʃ/ • blood / food / good /ʌ/ vs. /u:/ vs. /ʊ/ What is the difference in pronunciation in the following? • sun / son /sʌn/ • to / too / two /tu:/ • hour / our /aʊʳ/ ~ /aʊə/ • write / right /raɪt/ • aisle / isle / I’ll /aɪl/ • brake / break /breɪk/ • pin / pen / pan / pain / pawn / pine /ɪ/ /e/ /æ/ /eɪ/ /ɔ/ ~ /ɔː/ /aɪ/ HOMOPHONES

13. A NOTE ON orthography • ORTHOGRAPHY is both the set of symbols used in any particular writing system as well as the rules for writing symbols (punctuation, spelling, capitalisation, etc.) • Orthography vs. Phonology in English: 44 phonemes / 26 letters • 1 sound can be represented by a variety of letters: meat meet city key ceiling evil quay • 1 letter can represent a variety of sounds: damage educate picked • letter(s) can represent no sound at all: honour psychologist knee receipt • 2 or more letters can represent 1 sound: throne chain edge nation • A letter can sometimes be used to indicate the quality of a neighboring sound: diner / dinner ~ dine / din • A single letter can indicate more than one sound: <x> /ks/ • Some sounds have no graphic representation: universe one

14. levels of linguistic analysis II • MORPHOLOGY: Rules of morphology focus on how words and parts of words are structured; • MORPHEME is smallest unit of meaning in language. • Morphology is interested in • INFLECTION: syntactically motivated word formation, e.g. go ~ goes ~ went • DERIVATION: creates new lexical items, e.g. boy ~ boyhood ; mature ~ immature ; un-deserv-ed-ly[constituent morphemes] • GRAMMATICAL VS. LEXICAL WORDS: function words viewed as syntactic units(carry very little meaning on their own) vs. content words (nouns, adjective and most adverbs)

15. Grammatical/Function words

16. levels of linguistic analysis III • SYNTAX: the way linguistic forms combine according to grammatical rules to form utterances (or phrases and clauses), which is the largest level of structure in the morphosyntax or grammar • Some key processes in (English) syntax • Clause functions: main, subordinate, etc. • Negation • Question formation • Coordination and subordination • Passivization

17. levels of linguistic analysis IV • SEMANTICS: The study of semantics cuts across all the other levels of linguistic analysis. This is because meaning is at the core of human communication. • Despite this semantics usually focuses on • meaning of individual words (lexical semantics), • or semantic meanings which are encoded into the lexis and grammar, and the ability of words to refer to points in time or individuals in the external world (deixis). This is also part of pragmatic meanings which provide the meaning according to certain situations and contexts.

18. LEVELS OF LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS V • PRAGMATICS: concerned more with why grammatical constructions have structure (principles) rather than howtheyare structured (rules). • “The study of language from the point of view of the users, especially of the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social interaction, and the effects their use of language has on the other participants in an act of communication” (Crystal, 2011, p. 379).

19. LEVELS OF LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS VI • How language is structured also depends on context (= aspects of a situation which are relevant to communicate the inferences we make from the situation we are in): • situational context: “the total non-linguistic background to a text or utterance, including the immediate situation in which it is used, and the awareness by speaker and hearer of what has been said earlier and of any relevant external beliefs or presuppositions”; • contextual meaning: “information signalled about the kind of use a linguistic unit has in its social context, e.g. whether it has a ‘restricted’ use (as in social pleasantries, or religious settings), or how it relates to such factors as age, sex or class of the speakers” (Crystal, 2011, p. 109);

20. LEVELS OF LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS VII • TEXTUAL LINGUISTICS: it is important to study the linguistic context and its effect on how language is structured, which involves studying language at the level of text (=anything beyond the sentence that involves language use, and that is a produce of a broader range of social practice). • For example: “a newspaper article is not just a collection of sentences structured and used in a way consistent with the standards of journalistic English, but the result of social practices inherent with the media in general” (Meyer 80). • cohesion, coherence, reference, etc. are all important when considering the text or discourse level of analysis

21. describing English grammar:word classes (Verbs) I • VERBS: express actions or states • action (dynamic) – physical (jump), mental (think), perceptual (see), social (buy) • stative– states of being or processes in which there is no obvious action (like, love, understand, realise, depend, etc.) • Some verbs can have both a dynamic and a stative meaning, e.g. I’m seeing the doctor at ten o’clock. // I see what you mean. I have a lot of free time at the moment. // I’m having a party next week. • lexical (verbs) – express meaning in the verb phrase and can function only as the main verb • auxiliary (verbs) – used to construct different timescales, questions and negatives, as well as to add emphasis or give information about the mood or attitude of a speaker/writer

22. describing English grammar:word classes (Verbs) II • MODALS – convey a range of attitudes and moods about the likelihood and/or necessity of an event taking place. • Generally divided into two groups: one to do with degrees of certainty or necessity (epistemic) and others to do with obligation or freedom to act (deontic). • He must be there by now. // He must be there by tomorrow at noon. • Possible meanings • ability (He can speak English almost fluently.) • intention (I think I will go to the movies tonight.) • necessity/obligation (You have to be here by 9AM.) • permission (May I go to the toilet?) • prediction (That could be Tom. He was supposed to call at this time.) • possibility (He may arrive on time.)

23. describing English grammar:word classes (Verbs) III • PRESENT vs. PAST TENSES • present – used to describe states of affairs and events that occur on a regular basis; also used in sports commentaries, proverbs and sayings • past – actions that took place in the past; sometimes used to record indirect/reported speech, or something that is supposed to be happening • FUTURE TIME • simple present • modal • be going to • to be + present participle (present continuous) • future perfect

24. describing English grammar:word classes (Verbs) IV • ASPECT – establishes whether the action or state of a verb is complete or in progress • perfect - describes events occurring in the past but linked to a later time, usually the present • progressive - describes an event that takes place during a limited time period • VOICE • active • passive • subject delayed (for suspense) • when actor is too long • to exclude the AGENT: person/thing from responsibility

25. describing English grammar:word classes (Nouns) • NOUNS:traditionally known as naming words in that they name people, places and things, by far the most numerous word class • Common • Proper • Abstract • Concrete • Count vs. Non-count (uncountable) • Plurals • regular • irregular [hoof>hooves, ox>oxen, sheep>sheep, mouse>mice, criterion>criteria, life>lives] • Possessives

26. describing English grammar:word classes (ADJECTIVES) • ADJECTIVES: provide extra information about nouns by giving details of physical quantities like colour and shape and of psychological qualities like emotions, and by providing evaluative judgements • Attributive (The pure white stallion.) • Predicative (The stallion is white.) • Grading • superlative • comparative

27. describing English grammar:word classes (ADVERBS) I • ADVERBS: are difficult to define but they give information about time, place and manner. They can modify: • (a) Verbs • (b) Adjectives and other adverbs • and, importantly for text/discourse analysis, (c) sentences (as linking words) • disjuncts (attitude or stance adverbs) – express speakers’ attitudes (Perhaps I could do the work myself, but surely you could get someone else.) • conjuncts (connecting adverbs) – link sentences (Firstly, I intend to talk to the professor; however, I would like to do it before class.) • So the whole thing was frankly too awful for words.

28. describing English grammar:word classes (ADVERBS) II • Example of all three types with same adverb: • They listened to the complaints seriously. (=in a serious manner) • This cake is seriously scrumptious. (=to a serious degree) • Seriously, do you really mean that? (=I’m asking you seriously) • Some types of adverb (from Leech, 2008, p. 123)

29. describing English grammar:word classes (PRONOUNS) • PRONOUNS • Personal • Object • Possessive • Reflexive • Demonstrative • Interrogative • Relative • Indefinite

30. describing English grammar:word classes (DETERMINERS) • DETERMINERS: function words which are used to specify the reference of a noun; • Articles • Possessive • Demonstrative • Indefinite • Numbers • cardinal • ordinal

31. Form, function, meaning • We cannot only rely on meaning in order to recognize word classes. It is best to see the definition of a word class as a combination of form, function and meaning. • FORM: we can determine a word class partly by looking at its stem and affixes: • derivation suffixes are characteristic of certain word classes, e.g. electric-ity (noun); electr-ify (verb); electric-al (adjective) • inflectional suffixes can be added to change the word form (according to grammatical function): box → box-es (noun PL); work → work-ed (verb PAST); tall → tall-er (adjective COMP) • rarely there are inflections that change some part of the word: man ~ men; sing ~ sang; go ~ went • FUNCTION: we can tell the class of the word by the way it occurs in certain positions or structural contexts, e.g. The cook does not actually cook the mean. • MEANING: If you learn to recognize certain semantic types of word (i.e. word types classified according to meaning), such as action verbs, stativeverbs, abstract nouns, this will help you to check the purely structural criteria, those of form and function. (Leech, 2008, p. 114)