What Is Linguistics?

 Linguistics is the study of language.

 Knowledge of linguistics, however, is
different from knowledge of a language.
 Knowledge of linguistics means knowing
and understanding the internal structure of a
language without actually speaking it.
 It is a complex field and includes five principal
areas of study:
 Phonetics
• is the study of the sounds of language and
their physical properties.
• describes how speech sounds are produced
by the vocal apparatus (the lungs, vocal
cords, tongue, teeth, etc.) and provides a
framework for their classification.
 Phonology
• Involves analyzing how sounds function in a given
language or dialect, e.g. /p/ has two possible
sounds in English depending on its position in a
word.
• If you place a sheet of paper near your mouth and
pronounce the words pin and spin, the paper will
vibrate after the /p/ in the first word but not after
the same sound in the second word. This puff of
air occurs when /p/ is in the initial position of a
word in English.
• Phonologists examine such phonetic shifts
to construct theories about linguistic sounds
in one language that can be used in
comparing linguistic systems.
• The analysis of sounds in different
languages can be very useful for foreign
language teachers.
 Morphology
• is the study of the structure of words.
• Morphologists study minimal units of meaning,
called morphemes, and investigates the possible
combinations of these units in a language to form
words. For example, the word “imperfections’ is
composed of four morphemes: im + perfect + ion
+ s. The root, perfect, is transformed from an
adjective into a noun by the addition of ion, made
negative with im, and pluralized by s.
 Syntax

• is the study of the structure of sentences.

• describes how words combine into phrases
and clauses and how these combine to form
sentences. For example, “I found a coin
yesterday” is embedded as a relative clause
in the sentence, “The coin that I found
yesterday is quite valuable.”
• describes the rules for converting the first
sentence into the second.
 Semantics
• is the study of meaning in language.
• The goal of semantic study is to explain how
sentences of language are matched with their
proper meanings and placed in certain
environments by speakers of the language.
• The importance of meaning is revealed in the
following well known example from Chomsky
(1957): “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”
Though grammatical, this sentence is largely
meaningless in ordinary usage.
 What Is Language?
• Human use of language seems to be
irrepressible: ideas of thought, the mind,
and language seem to be inextricably bound
up together for humans.
• Animals also have communication systems
– where do these leave off and human
language begin? Can we find the roots of
human language in animal communication?
• Can animals, such as non-human primates,
learn to use language, or is language
something specific to humans?
• To help delineate what language is, we need
to compare human language to other
communication systems to see how they are
the same, and how they are different.
 What is language?
• Some linguists (eg Chomsky, 1957,
Macphail, 1982, both cited in Pearce, 1987)
have argued that language is a unique
human behaviour and that animal
communication falls short of human
language in a number of important ways.
• Chomsky (1957) claims that humans possess
an innate universal grammar that is not
possessed by other species. This can be
readily demonstrated, he claims, by the
universality of language in human society and
by the similarity of their grammars. No
natural non-human system of communication
shares this common grammar.
• Macphail (1982, cited by Pearce, 1987)
made the claim that "humans acquire
language (and non-humans do not) not
because humans are (quantitatively) more
intelligent, but because humans possess
some species-specific mechanism (or
mechanisms) which is a prerequisite of
language-acquisition".
 Human Language
• E. Sapir (1921)
Language is a purely human and non-
instinctive method of communicating
ideas, emotions, and desires by means of
voluntarily produced symbols.
 Human Language
• N. Chomsky (1957)
Language is a set of infinite sentences,
each finite in length, and constructed out
of a finite set of elements. Language has
biological foundation.
Various definitions of language
Language is:-
 a system of arbitrary, vocal symbols which
permit all people in a given culture, or other
people who have learned the system of that
culture, to communicate or to interact
(Finocchiaro 1964)
 a system of communication by sound, operating
through the organs of speech and hearing, among
members of a given community, and using vocal
symbols possessing arbitrary conventional
meanings
(Pei 1996)
 any set or system of linguistic symbols as used in
a more or less uniform fashion by a number of
people who are thus enabled to communicate
intelligibly with one another
(Random House Dictionary of the English
Language 1966)
 a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for
human communication
(Wardhaugh 1972)
 any means, vocal or other, of expressing or
communicating feelings or thought … a
system of conventionalized signs, especially
words, or gestures having fixed meanings
(Webster’s New International Dictionary of
the English Language 1934)
 a systematic means of communicating ideas
or feelings by the use of conventionalized
signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having
understood meanings
(Webster’s Third New International
Dictionary of the English Language 1961)
In composite, language :
 is systematic and generative.
 is a set of arbitrary symbols.
 Those symbols are primarily vocal, but may also
be visual.
 The symbols have conventionalized meanings to
which they refer.
 is used for communication.
 operates in a speech community or culture
 is essentially human, although possibly not limited
to humans.
 is acquired by all people in much the same way.
 Animal Communication and Language

• How do the forms of communication used

by animals differ from human language?
• Can animals be taught to use languages that
are analogous to or the same as human
language?
 Natural Animal Communication
• Animal communication is “the transmission of a
signal from one animal to another such that the
sender benefits, on average, from the response of
the recipient.”
(Slater, 1983; Pearce, 1987).
This loose definition permits the inclusion of many
types of behaviour and allows “communication” to
be applied to a very large range of animals,
including some very simple animals.
 Natural animal communication can include:
• Chemical signals (used by some very simple
creatures, including protozoa).
• Smell (related to chemical signals, e.g.
pheremones attract, skunk secretions repel).
• Touch.
• Movement.
• Posture (e.g. dogs, geese).
• Facial gestures (e.g. dogs snarling).
• Visual signals (e.g. feathers).
• Sound (e.g. very many vertebrate and invertebrate
calls).
Such signals are designed to:-

• Attract (especially mates).

• Repel (especially competitors or enemies).
• Signal aggression or submission.
• Advertise species.
• Warn of predators.
• Communicate about the environment or the
availability of food.
Such signals may be:-

• Instinctive, that is genetically programmed.

• Learnt from others.

Systems of communication are not unique to

human beings. Other animal species also
communicate in a variety of ways.
Communication can be defined to include both
signals and symbols.
 Signals are sounds or gestures that have a natural
or self-evident meaning [example of someone
crying (=emotion), laughing (=emotion), animal
cries (=indicating fear, food, or hunt)]. In this
regard, we can consider that most animal
communication is genetically determined and
includes hoots, grunts, or screams that are meant
to mean only one thing and are used every time in
the same situation.
 So there is only one way to express one thing and
it never changes.
• Animal communication tends to consist
primarily of signals.
• In contrast, human communication is
dependent on both signals and symbols.
• Symbols are sounds or gestures that have
meaning for a group of people – it is the
cultural tradition that gives it meaning (e.g.
green light = go).
• Symbols have to be learned and are not
instinctive; the meanings are arbitrary.
 Conclusion
• Language is a system of communication.
• Communication includes both signals and
symbols.
• There are various systems of communication
• These systems of communication are not
unique to human beings.
• Animals also communicate in a variety of
ways.
 Animal communication tends to consist
primarily of signals.
• In contrast, human communication is
dependent on both signals and symbols.
• Signals are sounds or gestures that have a
natural or self-evident meaning.
• Symbols are also sounds or gestures that
have meaning for a group of people – it is
the cultural tradition that gives it meaning.
Thus, as foreign or second language teachers,
it is important to know something about this
system of communication which we call
language.
Your understanding of the components of
language will determine to a large extent
how you teach a language: whether
effectively or uneffectively.
 Questions to ponder
• What is language?
• What are the characteristics of language?
• What is natural animal communication?
• How do the forms of communication used by
animals differ from human language?
• Can animals be taught to use languages that are
analogous to or the same as human language?
• Can we find the roots of human language in
animal communication?