Step 2.

The nature of Linguistics and Language

Raquel Valentina Garcia Ramirez

1001064467

Group: 8

Tutor: Doris Johanna Sanchez

Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia

Introduction to Linguistics

Bogotá

2020
 Activity 2

1. ‘If we could embrace the sum of word-images stored in the minds of all individuals,

we could identify the social bond that constitutes language. It is a storehouse filled by the

members of a given community through their active use of speaking, a grammatical system that

has a potential existence in each brain, or, specifically, in the brains of a group of individuals.

For language is not complete in any speaker; it exists perfectly only within a collectivity.’

Author: Michael Holiday

2. ‘It seems clear that we must regard linguistic competence – knowledge of a language –

as an abstract system underlying behavior, a system constituted by rules that interact to

determine the form and intrinsic meaning of a potentially infinite number of sentences.’

Author: Noam Chomsky- Century XX

3. ‘Every text – that is, everything that is said or written – unfolds in some context of use;

furthermore, it is the uses of language that, over tens of thousands of generations, have shaped

the system. Language has evolved to satisfy human needs; and the way it is organized is

functional with respect to these needs.’

Author: Ferdinand de Saussure - Swiss Linguistics – Century XVlll - XIX

4. ‘Linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-hearer, in a completely

homogeneous speech community, who knows its language perfectly and is unaffected by such

grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitations, distractions, shifts of attention and

interest, errors (random or characteristic) in applying his knowledge of the language in actual

performance.
 ’5. ‘Language is a system of interdependent terms in which the value of each term results

solely from the simultaneous presence of the others ... [for example]. To determine what a five-

franc piece is worth one most know: (1) that it can be exchanged for a fixed quantity of a

different thing, e.g. bread; and (2) that it can be compared with a similar value of the same

system, e.g. a one-franc piece, or with coins of another system (a dollar, etc.). In the same way a

word can be exchanged for something dissimilar, an idea; besides, it can be compared with

something of the same nature, another word. Its value is therefore not fixed so long as one

simply states that it can be ‘exchanged’ for a given concept.’

Author: Ferdinand de Saussure -

6. ‘Spoken and written language, then, tend to display different KINDS of complexity;

each of them is more complex in its own way. Written language tends to be lexically dense but

grammatically simple; spoken language tends to be grammatically intricate but lexically

sparse’ ... ‘The value of having some explicit knowledge of the grammar of written language is

that you can use this knowledge, not only to analyze the texts, but as a critical resource for

asking questions about them.’

Author: Michael Holiday

Activity 3

Why Linguistics is definitely considered a science?

- I can affirm that linguistics is a science because it is methodical since it uses steps during

its investigation, it is also systematic because it maintains order.

- It is the science that studies the components of natural languages, it is a science because it

seeks to explain how they work from a specific point.

Activity 4

4.1 The concept of ‘double articulation’ is a classic one at identifying language, please,

explain it, and give examples.

- The double articulation of language is defined as the production of sounds in human

language, it consists in the decomposition of the linguistic sign for units with meaning and

units without meaning.

Examples:

Con significado Monemas

Casa

Casita

Rosa

Rosita

Tienda

Tiendita

Es-e Ca-chorr-o juga-ba con la niñ-ita

Es-a Ca-chorr-a juga-ba con el niñ-ito

 Es-e Perr-o Jueg-a con el chic-o

Es-a Perr-a Jug-ó con la chic-a

Sin significado fonemas

a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, ll, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z.

F-a-r-m-a-c-i-a

A-n-t-o-n-i-o

C-o-l-e-g-i-o

4.2 Human language is different from other semiotic systems, explain at least three

characteristics, that according to Linguistics, are unique to human language (give references).

- The properties of human language is characterized by linguistic works, it is divided

between properties of the signal and properties of the process.

Features:

- Productivity: The grammatical repertoire of each language allows the potentially

infinite construction of linguistic structures of varying length and complexity.

- Role Exchange: Users of a language can be interchangeably senders or recipients of

linguistic signs.

- Vocal-auditory channel: The vocal auditory character is one of the defining properties

of human language.