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Linguistics for ELT. EDL 1201 3 credit hours Mohd Marzuki Maulud For Cohort, 2 Jul – Nov 2005. The universals of language. All languages evolve through time A language has rules – patterned structures It contains meaning/ messages/ information / thoughts/ etc.
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Linguistics for ELT EDL 1201 3 credit hours Mohd Marzuki Maulud For Cohort, 2 Jul – Nov 2005
The universals of language • All languages evolve through time • A language has rules – patterned structures • It contains meaning/ messages/ information / thoughts/ etc. • It is a form of communication • Creativity • Duality
The universals of language 2 • A system of arbitrary signs (Finegan pg 8 ) • A sound system- class of vowels and consonants
All languages evolve through time • Languages evolve through time – why? • Its uniqueness relationship to human – human needs change – so does language. • New words are coined and new phrases are invented. (refer Fromkin pg 16) • Unused languages will die – no speakers (eg Latin, & Sanskrit)
2. A language has rules • Grammar – a set of systematic rules /explicit theory constructed by linguists and proposed as the speaker’s competence. (Fromkin 14) • Allows speakers to be better understood. • Allows speakers to learn and use language systematically – a std.
3. Meanings, info • It contains meaning/ messages/ information / thoughts/ etc. • The main use/ function of language • Three faces of language system (Meaning, Expression, Context) eg “I Love You” or “Icome tax/ Pass me the salt”– read Finegan pg 7
4. A form of Communication • We communicate using the language that we understand – sometimes with or w/o sounds/speech/right grammar/etc. • We transmit and receive information, messages, etc. • Is it communication if the person whom we talked to did not understand us? • Read sign language Fromkin 20-22
5. Creativity • All languages can spark man to be creative. Words can become longer forms – into paragraphs and longer essays/compositions. • This is the difference between man and animal – the languages they possess.
6. Duality • Analysed language Finegan 21
7. arbitrary • No reason nor clarity (Finegan 8) • A word does not mean a thing to a person who does not know a language • Smoke is arbitrary to fire?
8. Sound System • All languages have a collection of Consonants and Vowels • They also have dipthongs,and tripthongs – the combination of vowels. • Consonant clusters – sl-, ch-, thr-, -ght, - which occurs in all positons for most.