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 GENERIC ELECTIVE ENGLISH (GEEG)

GEEG-04
Language and Linguistics

BLOCK- 1
English Language Teaching

Unit-1: Language and Linguistics

Unit-2: Linguistics & Applied Linguistics
Unit-3: Language Variations over Time
UNIT-1 LANGUAGE AND LIGUISTICS

Structure

1.0 Objective
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Historical evolution of Linguistics: Panini to Chomsky and After
1.3 Aims of Linguistics
1.4 Types of Linguistics
1.5 The Basic Dimensions of Linguistics
1.5.1 Descriptive linguistics and perspective linguistics
1.5.2 Theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics
1.5.3 Microlinguistics and Macrolinguistics
1.5.4 Synchronic linguistics and diachronic linguistics
1.5.5 Competence and Performance
1.5.6 Linguistic phylogeny
1.5.7 ‘I-Language’ and ‘E-Language’
1.6 Grammar as the Representation of Linguistic Competence
1.7 Types of Grammar:
1.7.1 Mental Grammar:
1.7.2 Universal Grammar:
1.7.3 Descriptive Grammars
1.7.4 Prescriptive Grammars
1.8 Three Approaches to Linguistic Theorizing: Externalism, Emergentalism, and
Essentialism
1.8.1 The Externalists
1.8.2 The Emergentists
1.8.3 The Essentialists
1.9 The Subject Matter of Linguistic Theories
1.10 Linguistic Methodology and Data
1.11 Whorfianism
1.12 Linguistic nativism
1.13 Summary

1.0 OBJECTIVE

In this block we will discuss ‘What is Linguistics’ will tell you about the key
components of linguistics and various elements and theories. In a nutshell it will make
you comfortable with key concepts of linguistics.

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1.1 INTORDUCTION

Linguistics is a growing and interesting area of study, having a direct hearing on fields
as diverse as education, anthropology, sociology, language teaching, cognitive
psychology and philosophy. Fundamentally, it is concerned with the nature of
language and communication. Some of the definitions of linguistics are as under:

“Linguistics observes language in action as a means for determining how language has
developed, how it functions today, and how it is currently evolving.” (G. Duffy)

“Linguistics is concerned with the nature of human language, how it is learned and
what part it plays in the life of the individual and the community.” (S. Pit Corder)

“Linguistics tries to answer two basic questions:

“The scientific study of human language is called linguistics”. (Victoria A. Fromkin)

Again and again we hear that Linguistics is the scientific study of language. By this
we mean language in general, not a particular language. If we were concerned with
studying an individual language, we would say ‘I’m studying French… or English,’
or whichever language we happen to be studying. But linguistics does not study an
individual language; it studies ‘language’ in general. That is, linguistics, according to
Robins (1985):
It is concerned with human language as a universal and recognizable part of the
human behaviour and of the human faculties, perhaps one of the most essential to
human life as we know it, and one of the most far-reaching of human capabilities
in relation to the whole span of mankind’s achievements.

Elements of General Linguistics

Linguistics is a scientific study of the systems underlying human languages. It studies

language as a universal and recognizable part of human behaviour. In simple terms we
can understand that linguistics studies the origin, organization, nature and
development of language descriptively, historically, comparatively and explicitly. It
also formulates the general rules related to language. We call linguistics a science and
its working scientific because it follows the general methodology of science such as
controlled observation, hypothesis formation, analysis, generalization, prediction,
testing by further observation etc. It may be inductive or deductive but it is objective,
precise, tentative and systematic. It is between natural and social sciences. According
to Robins: ‘Linguistics is an empirical science and within the empirical sciences it is
one of the social sciences because its subject matter concerns human beings and is
very much different from that of natural sciences.’ Thus a linguist is a scientist who
investigates human language in all its facets, its structure, its use, its history, and its
place in society. But the field of linguistics is not limited to grammatical theory; it

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includes a large number of subfields, which is true of most sciences concerned with
phenomena as complex as human language.

1.2 HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF LINGUISTICS: PANINI TO

CHOMSKY AND AFTER

The philosophers of ancient Greece argued and debated questions dealing with the
origin and the nature of language. Plato, writing between 427 and 348 BC, devoted his
Dialogue to linguistic issues of his day and Aristotle was concerned with language
from both rhetorical and philosophical points of view. The Greeks and the Romans
also wrote grammars, and discussed the sounds of language and the structures of words
and sentences. This interest continued through the medieval period and the renaissance
in an unbroken thread to the present period.

Linguistic scholarship, however, was not confined to Europe. In India the Sanskrit
language was the subject of detailed analysis as early as the twelfth century BC.
Panini’s Sanskrit grammar dated ca. 500 BC is still considered to be one of the greatest
scholarly linguistic achievements. In addition, Chinese and Arabic scholars have all
contributed to our understanding of human language. The major efforts of the linguists
of the nineteenth century were devoted to historical and comparative studies.
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), a Swiss linguist in this tradition, turned his
attention instead to the structural principles of language rather than to the ways in
which languages change and develop, and in so doing, became a major influence on
twentieth century linguistics.

Scholars from different disciplines and with different interests turned their attention to
the many aspects of language and language use. American linguists in the first half of
the century included the anthropologist Edward Sapir (1884–1939, and Leonard
Bloomfield (1887– 1949), himself a historical and comparative linguist, as well as a
major descriptive linguist who emerged as the most influential linguist in this period.
Both Sapir and Bloomfield were also concerned with developing a general theory of
language. In Europe, Roman Jakobson (1896–1982), one of the founders of the Prague
School of Linguistics, came to America in 1941 and contributed substantially to new
developments in the field. His collaboration with Morris Halle and Gunnar Fant led to
a theory of Distinctive Features in phonology, and Halle has remained one of the
leading phonologists of the last decades. In England, phoneticians like Daniel Jones
(1881–1967) and Henry Sweet (1845–1912) (the prototype for G. B. Shaw’s Henry
Higgins) have had a lasting influence on the study of the sound systems of language.
In 1957 with the publication of Syntactic Structures, Noam Chomsky ushered in the
era of generative grammar, a theory that has been referred to as creating a scientific
revolution. It is concerned with the biological basis for the acquisition, representation
and use of human language and seeks to construct a scientific theory that is explicit
and explanatory.

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1.3 AIMS OF LINGUISTICS

Linguistics has two major aims: to study the nature of language and establish a theory
of language and to describe a language and all languages by applying the theory
established.

1.4 TYPES OF LINGUISTICS

 Theoretical Linguistics often referred to as generative linguistics, has its basis in

views first put forth by Chomsky’s The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory.
Its aim was to characterize the nature of human linguistic knowledge or
competence (represented in the mind as a mental grammar); that is, to explain or
account for what speakers know which permits them to speak and comprehend
speech or sign (the languages of the deaf). The production and comprehension of
speech is referred to as performance, distinct from competence but dependent on
it.
 Descriptive linguistics provides analyses of the grammars of languages such as
Choctaw, Arabic, Zulu. ‘Indo-European-linguistics,’ ‘Romance linguistics,’ and
‘African linguistics,’ refer to the studies of particular languages and language
families, from both historical and synchronic points of view.
 Historical linguistics is concerned with a theory of language change – why and
how languages develop. The comparative method, developed in the nineteenth
century by such philologists as the brothers Grimm and Hermann Paul, is a
method used to compare languages in the attempt to determine which languages
are related and to establish families of languages and their roots.
 Anthropological or ethno-linguistics and Sociolinguistics focus on languages
as part of culture and society, including language and culture, social class,
ethnicity, and gender.
 Dialectology investigates how these factors fragment one language into many.
 Applied linguistics also covers such areas as discourse and conversational
analysis, language assessment, language pedagogy.
 Computational linguistics is concerned with natural language computer
applications, e.g. automatic parsing, machine processing and understanding,
computer simulation of grammatical models for the generation and parsing of
sentences.
 Mathematical linguistics studies the formal and mathematical properties of
language. Pragmatics studies language in context and the influence of situation
on meaning. Neurolinguistics is concerned with the biological basis of language
acquisition and development and the brain/mind/language interface. It brings
linguistic theory to bear on research on aphasia (language disorders following
brain injury) and research involving the latest technologies in the study of brain
imaging and processing.
 Psycholinguistics is the branch of linguistics concerned with linguistic
performance – the production and comprehension of speech (or sign).

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 Ontogeny Linguistics deals with child language acquisition – how children
acquire the complex grammar, which underlies language use.

1.5 THE BASIC DIMENSIONS OF LINGUISTICS:

Modern linguistics has evolved as a discipline, which is more concerned with

application of linguistic data, information and observations in various domains of
human enterprise. Several new field of linguistics have been introduced such as
computational Linguistics, Corpus linguistics, forensic linguistics etc. This has made
it possible to look at the languages from different perspectives. Although the modern
linguistics has been drastically different from the traditional linguistics in approach,
attitude, methods, orientation, subject matters and focus, it has not yet succeeded to
ignore the basic dimensions of linguistics. The basic dimensions are as following:

1.5.1 Descriptive linguistics and perspective linguistics:

Descriptive linguistics or language description, in the study of language, is a kind of
study that objectively analyses and describes how languages is used in all kinds of
activity related to it and other things. It has been much dependent on a structural
approach to language study, as shown in the works of Bloomfield, Hockett and others,
which has given birth to a new idea known as descriptivism that argues that authentic
description of a language and its properties is much more significant or important than
prescribing it in case of understanding a language, teaching a language, and
developing resources for language planning.

Perspective linguistics refers both to the codification and the enforcement of rules
governing how the people of a particular speech community should use a language.
An extreme version of prescriptivism can be found among the censoring authorities,
which attempt to eradicate words (such as slang) and structures which they consider
to be destructive to a society or culture, which eventually leads to the birth of purism
in language use.

1.5.2 Theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics:

Theoretical linguistics studies a particular language as well as a group of languages
with a view for constructing theory of their structure and functions without regard to
any practical applications that the investigation of language and languages might have
(Lyons 1981:35) Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry that
identifies, investigates and offers solutions to language

1.5.3 Microlinguistics and Macrolinguistics:

These familiar prefixes (micro=very small; macro=very large) differentiate two
approaches to the study of languages. The micro-linguist is interested in how small
changes in a distinct word or other linguistic element may offer clues to larger trends:
for example, how did “thou thee thy thine” become “you, you, your, yours” in modern
English? Or how did contractions form (wouldn’t, won’t, can’t, doesn’t, etc.) evolve?

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The macro-linguist, on the other hand, studies major changes in language from outside
forces—the Latin language influence on English came from the Roman Empire’s
expansion, for example. Look at how these two approach work together: The macro-
linguist notes that the Norman Invasion brought French to the English; the micro-
linguist, wondering why cowmeat is called beef, sheep-meat is called mutton, pig-
meat is called pork, etc., notes that the French word for cow is “boeuf,” the French
word for sheep is “mouton,” the French word for pig is “porque.” Together the
linguists realize that the French invaders, whose servants were the conquered English
peasants, ordered their meals using the French words, so the food names that the
servants got used to were the French terms, and entered the English language that way.
Micro linguistics deals with phonetics, grammar, etc. on the individual example level;
Macro linguistics deals with comparative studies among languages, language families,
and large influences on language development.

1.5.4 Synchronic linguistics and diachronic linguistics both study a language.

Synchronic linguistics will be concerned with the logical and psychological relations
that bind together co existing terms and form a system in the collective mind of
speakers. Diachronic or historical linguistics studies the development of languages
through time, for example, the way in which French and Italian have evolved from
Latin or Hindi from Sanskrit. It also investigates language changes. Synchronic deals
with systems and diachronic with units. Saussure considered synchronic linguistics to
be more important.

1.5.5 Competence and Performance

Chomsky’s concept of Competence and Performance is somewhat similar to
Saussure’s concept of Langue and Parole. Competence is the native speaker’s
knowledge of his language, the system of rules he has mastered, his ability to produce
and understand a vast number of new sentences. Performance is the study of actual
sentences themselves, of the actual use of language in real life situation. The speaker’s
knowledge of the structure of a language is his linguistic competence and the way in
which he uses it, is his linguistic performance.

The competence is free from the interference of memory span, characteristics errors,
lapses of attention etc. Competence in linguistics is the linguistic ability.-the ability to
produce and understand. Saussure stressed the sociological implications of langue,
while Chomsky stresses the psychological implications of competence.

1.5.6 Linguistic phylogeny

Russell Gray and his colleagues have taken powerful phylogenetic methods that were
developed by biologists to investigate molecular evolution, and applied them to
linguistic data in order to answer questions about the evolution of language families.

1.5.7 I-Language’ and ‘E-Language’

Chomsky (1986) introduced into the
‘E-language’

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Chomsky's notion ‘E-language’ is supposed to suggest by its initial ‘E’ both
‘extensional’ (concerned with which sentences happen to satisfy a definition of a
language rather than with what the definition says) and ‘external’ (external to the
mind, that is, non-mental). The dismissal of E-language as an object of study is aimed
at critics of Essentialism—many but not all of those critics falling within our
categories of Externalists and Emergentists.

Chomsky therefore concludes that languages cannot be defined or individuated

extensionally or mind-externally, and hence the only scientifically interesting
conception of a ‘language’ is the ‘I-language’ view.

1.6 GRAMMAR AS THE REPRESENTATION OF LINGUISTIC

COMPETENCE

Linguistic knowledge as represented in the speaker’s mind is called a grammar.

Linguistic theory is concerned with revealing the nature of the mental grammar, which
represents speakers’ knowledge of their language. If one defines grammar as the
mental representation of one’s linguistic knowledge, then a general theory of language
is a theory of grammar. A grammar includes everything one knows about the structure
of one’s language –

 Its lexicon (the words or vocabulary in the mental dictionary),

 Its morphology (the structure of words),
 Its syntax (the structure of phrases and sentences),
 Its semantics (the meaning of words and sentences)
 And its phonetics and phonology (the sounds and the sound system or
patterns).

1.7 TYPES OF GRAMMAR:

Grammar as viewed here are different from the usual notion of grammar. When
viewed as the representation of a speaker’s linguistic competence, a grammar is a
mental system, a cognitive part of the brain/mind, which, if it is one’s first native
language, is acquired as a child without any specific instruction. The word grammar
is often used solely in reference to syntax. But we use it to refer to all aspects of
linguistic competence. In addition to its use as referring to the mental system, when
linguists describe this knowledge shared by a language community, the description is
also called the grammar of the language.

1.7.1 Mental Grammar:

Of course no two speakers of a language have identical grammars; some may know
words that others do not, some may have some idiosyncratic rules or pronunciations.
But since they can speak to each other and understand each other there is a shared
body of knowledge, which is what we are calling their mental grammars.

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1.7.2 Universal Grammar:
The more we look at the languages of the world, the more support there is for the
position taken by Roger Bacon, a thirteenth century philosopher, who wrote: He that
understands grammar in one language, understands it

1.7.3 Descriptive Grammars:

Descriptive grammars are thus idealized forms of the mental grammars of all the
speakers of a language community. The grammars of all languages are constrained by
universal ‘laws’ or ‘principles,’ a view which differs from that of many linguists in
the pre-Chomsky period some of whom held that languages could differ in
innumerable ways.

1.7.4 Prescriptive Grammars:

Descriptive grammars aim at revealing the mental grammar which represents the
knowledge a speaker of the language has. They do not attempt to prescribe what
speakers’ grammars should be. While certain forms (or dialects) of a language may be
preferred for social or political or economic reasons, no specific dialect is linguistically
superior to any other. The science of linguistics therefore has little interest in
prescriptive grammars.

1.8 THREE APPROACHES TO LINGUISTIC THEORIZING:

EXTERNALISM, EMERGENTALISM, AND ESSENTIALISM

Table 1: Three Approaches to the Study of Language

EXTERNALISTS EMERGENTISTS ESSENTIALISTS

Primary Actual utterances Facts of social cognition, Intuitions of

phenomena as interaction, and grammaticality and
produced by communication literal meaning
language users
Primary Language use; Linguistic communication, Abstract universal
subject structural cognition, variation, and principles that
matter properties of change explain the
expressions and properties of
languages specific languages
Aim To describe attested To explain structural To articulate
expression properties of languages in universal principles
structure and terms of general cognitive and provide
interrelations, and mechanisms and explanations for
predicting communicative functions deep and cross-
properties of linguistically
unattested constant linguistic
expressions properties

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Linguistic A system of A system of constructions A system of abstract
structure patterns, inferable that range from fixed conditions that may
from generally idiomatic phrases to highly not be evident from
accessible, abstract productive types the experience of
objective features typical language
of language use users
Values Accurate modeling Cognitive, cultural, Highly abstract,
of linguistic form historical, and evolutionary covering-law
that accords with explanations of phenomena explanations for
empirical data and found in linguistic properties of
permits prediction communication language as inferred
concerning systems from
unconsidered linguistic intuitions
cases
Children's A nascent form of Very similar to
language language, very adult linguistic
different from adult competence though
linguistic obscured by
competence A series of stages in an cognitive,
ontogenetic process of
developing adult articulatory, and
communicative competence lexical limits
What is A grasp of the A mainly conventional and An internalized
acquired distributional culturally transmitted system generative device
properties of the for linguistic communication that characterizes
constituents of an infinite set of
expressions of a expressions
language

The names we have given these approaches are just mnemonic tags, not descriptions.
If Leonard Bloomfield is the intellectual ancestor of Externalism, and Sapir the father
of Emergentism, then Noam Chomsky is the intellectual ancestor of Essentialism. The
researcher with predominantly Essentialist inclinations aims to identify the intrinsic
properties of language that make it what it is.

1.8.1 The Externalists

If one assumes, with the Externalists, that the main goal of a linguistic theory is to
develop accurate models of the structural properties of the speech sounds, words,
phrases, and other linguistic items, then the clearly privileged information will include
corpora (written and oral)—bodies of attested and recorded language use (suitably
idealized).

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1.8.2 The Emergentists
Emergentists aim to explain the capacity for language in terms of non-linguistic human
capacities: thinking, communicating, and interacting. Edward Sapir expressed a
characteristic Emergentist theme when he wrote:

Language is primarily a cultural or social product and must be understood as such…

It is peculiarly important that linguists, who are often accused, and accused justly, of
failure to look beyond the pretty patterns of their subject matter, should become aware
of what their science may mean for the interpretation of human conduct in general.
(Sapir 1929: 214)

1.8.3 The Essentialists

The idea that linguistic form is autonomous, and more specifically that syntactic form
(rather than, say, phonological form) is autonomous, is a characteristic theme of the
Essentialists. Rather than being impressed with language variation, as are
Emergentists and many Externalists, the generative Essentialists are extremely
impressed with the idea that very young children of almost any intelligence level, and
just about any social upbringing, acquire language to the same high degree of mastery.
From this it is inferred that there must be unlearned features shared by all languages
that somehow assist in language acquisition.

1.9 THE SUBJECT MATTER OF LINGUISTIC THEORIES

The complex and multi-faceted character of linguistic phenomena means that the
discipline of linguistics has a whole complex of distinguishable subject matters
associated with different research questions. Among the possible topics for
investigation are these:

i. the capacity of humans to acquire, use, and invent languages;

ii. the abstract structural patterns (phonetic, morphological, syntactic, or
semantic) found in a particular language under some idealization;
iii. systematic structural manifestations of the use of some particular language;
iv. the changes in a language or among languages across time;
v. the psychological functioning of individuals who have successfully acquired
particular languages;
vi. the psychological processes underlying speech or linguistically mediated
thinking in humans;
vii. the evolutionary origin of (i), and/or (ii).

1.10 LINGUISTIC METHODOLOGY AND DATA

The strengths and limitations of different data gathering methods began to play an
important role in linguistics in the early to mid-20th century. Voegelin and Harris
(1951: 323) discuss several methods that had been used to distinguish Amerindian
languages and dialects:

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 • Informal elicitation: asking an informant for a metalinguistic judgment on an
expression. [E.g., “Is this sentence grammatical?” “Do these two sentences
mean the same thing?”]
• Corpus collection: gathering a body of naturally occurring utterances.
• Controlled experimentation: testing informants in some way that directly
gauges their linguistic capacities.

1.11 WHORFIANISM

Emergentists tend to follow Edward Sapir in taking an interest in interlinguistic and

intralinguistic variation. Linguistic anthropologists have explicitly taken up the task
of defending a famous claim associated with Sapir that connects linguistic variation to
differences in thinking and cognition more generally. The claim is very often referred
to as the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis . The term “Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis” was coined
by Harry Hoijer in his contribution (Hoijer 1954) to a conference on the work of
Benjamin Lee Whorf in 1953.

The central idea of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is that language functions, not simply
as a device for reporting experience, but also, and more significantly, as a way of
defining experience for its speakers.

Whorf himself did not offer a hypothesis. He presented his “new principle of linguistic
relativity” (Whorf 1956: 214) as a fact discovered by linguistic analysis:

‘No one is going to be impressed with a claim that some aspect of your language may
affect how you think in some way or other; that is neither a philosophical thesis nor a
psychological hypothesis. So it is appropriate to set aside entirely the kind of so-called
hypotheses that Steven Pinker presents in The Stuff of Thought (2007: 126–128) as
“five banal versions of the Whorfian hypothesis”:

• “Language affects thought because we get much of our knowledge through

reading and conversation.”
• “A sentence can frame an event, affecting the way people construe it.”
• “The stock of words in a language reflects the kinds of things its speakers deal
with in their lives and hence think about.”
• “[I]f one uses the word language in a loose way to refer to meanings,… then
language is thought.”
• “When people think about an entity, among the many attributes they can think
about is its name.”

These are just truisms, unrelated to any serious issue about linguistic relativism.

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1.12 LINGUISTIC NATIVISM

General nativists maintain that the prerequisites for language acquisition are just
general cognitive abilities and resources. Linguistic nativists, by contrast, claim that
human infants have access to at least some specifically linguistic information that is
not learned from linguistic experience. Table 3 briefly sketches the differences
between the two views.

Table 3: General and linguistic nativism contrasted

GENERAL NATIVISTS LINGUISTIC NATIVISTS

Languages are acquired mainly through the Language cannot be acquired by

exercise of defeasible inductive methods,
based on experience of linguistic
communication
The unlearned capacities that underpin
language acquisition constitute a uniquely
human complex of non-linguistic
dispositions and mechanisms that also
subserve other cognitive functions
Various non-human animal species may
well have most or all of the capacities that
humans use for language acquisition—
though no non-human species seems to have
the whole package, so interspecies
differences are a matter of degree
defeasible inductive methods; its
structural principles must to a very large
degree be unlearned
In addition to various broadly language
relevant cognitive and perceptual
capacities, language acquisition draws on
an unlearned system of ‘universal
grammar’ that constrains language form
There is a special component of the human
mind which has the development of
language as its key function, and no non-
human species has anything of the sort, so
there is a difference in kind between the
abilities of humans and other animals

1.13 LET US SUM UP

Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. There are many subfields of
linguistics. The interest in human language goes back as far as recorded history.
The publication of Chomsky’s Syntactic Structures in 1957 ushered in the current
period of generative linguistics, the aims of which concern answers to three key
questions: what constitutes knowledge of language (linguistic competence), how is the
knowledge acquired, and how is this knowledge put to use in linguistic performance?

1.14 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. What is Descriptive linguistics and perspective linguistics?

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2. What is Microlinguistics and Macrolinguistics?

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3. What is Synchronic linguistics and diachronic linguistics?

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4. What is Competence and Performance?

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5. What is Linguistic phylogeny?

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6. What is I-Language’ and ‘E-Language’?

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1.15 BOOKS CONSULTED

• Isac, Daniela; Charles Reiss (2013). I-language: An Introduction to Linguistics

as Cognitive Science, 2nd edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN
9780199660179.
• Chomsky, Noam (1998). On Language. The New Press, New York. ISBN
9781565844759.
• Crystal, David (1990). Linguistics. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780140135312.
• Hall, Christopher (2005). An Introduction to Language and Linguistics.
Breaking the Language Spell. Routledge.

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UNIT-2 LINGUISTICS & APPLIED LINGUISTICS

Structure

2.0 Objective
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Overview
2.3 Linguistics & Applied Linguistics
2.4 History of Applied Linguistics
2.5 Applied Linguistics Answer Questions Such As:
2.6 Major Branches of Applied Linguistics
2.6.1 Essential Areas of Enquiry in Applied Linguistics
2.6.2 Second Language Acquisition
2.6.3 Language Teaching, Testing and Language Proficiency
2.6.4 Corpus Linguistics:
2.6. 5 Lexicography
2.6.6 Translation Studies
2.7 Summary
2.8 Check Your Progress

2.0 OBJECTIVE

In this unit you will learn about what Applied linguistics is? Its applicability.
It is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to
language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to
applied linguistics are education, psychology, communication research, anthropology,
and sociology.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Applied Linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry that addresses a broad range

of language-related issues in order to understand their roles in the lives of individuals
and conditions in society. It draws on a wide range of theoretical and methodological
approaches from various disciplines–from the humanities to the social and natural
sciences–as it develops its own knowledge-base about language, its users and uses,
and their underlying social and material conditions. It studies how language is used,
learned and taught.

2.2 OVERVIEW

Linguistics is the study of language in all its aspects including its structure, its
diversity, how it changes and evolves, how people learn and make use of it to

15
communicate, and how it is implicated in relations of power. It provides students with
an insight into the most fundamental of all human faculties, develops strong analytical
skills and a foundation for work in many diverse areas. Linguistics and Applied
Linguistics in the School of Languages and Linguistics has strengths in many
significant areas of research. It has an outstanding record in attracting nationally
competitive publication and research grants and has established extensive
collaborative networks with local and international scholars in the field.

2.3 LINGUISTICS & APPLIED LINGUISTICS

Linguistics is the study of human language in all its aspects. It provides a methodology
for exploring the structure of particular languages; it investigates what is universal to
all human languages: how language varies over time and between different societies,
how language is learnt, and how language is used for human communication.

Applied Linguistics is concerned with practical issues involving language in the life
of the community. The most important of these is the learning of second or foreign
languages. Others include language policy, multilingualism, language education, the
preservation and revival of endangered languages, and the assessment and treatment
of language difficulties. Other areas of interest include corpus linguistics,
lexicography, study of professional communication, psycholinguistics, language
policy issues. Applied Linguistics is a challenging and stimulating discipline, offering
many opportunities for original work.

2.4 HISTORY OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS

The tradition of applied linguistics established itself in part as a response to the

narrowing of focus in linguistics with the advent in the late 1950s of generative
linguistics, and has always maintained a socially-accountable role, demonstrated by
its central interest in language problems. Although the field of applied linguistics
started from Europe and the United States, the field rapidly flourished in the
international context.

Applied linguistics first concerned itself with principles and practices on the basis of
linguistics. In the early days, applied linguistics was thought as “linguistics-applied”
at least from the outside of the field. In the 1960s, however, applied linguistics was
expanded to include language assessment, language policy, and second language
acquisition. As early as the 1970s, applied linguistics became a problem-driven field
rather than theoretical linguistics, including the solution of language-related problems
in the real world. By the 1990s, applied linguistics had broadened including critical
studies and multilingualism. Research in applied linguistics was shifted to the
theoretical and empirical investigation of real world problems in which language is a
central issue.

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In the United States, applied linguistics also began narrowly as the application of
insights from structural linguistics—first to the teaching of English in schools and
subsequently to second and foreign language teaching. The linguistics applied
approach to language teaching was promulgated most strenuously by Leonard
Bloomfield, who developed the foundation for the Army Specialized Training
Program, and by Charles C. Fries, who established the English Language Institute
(ELI) at the University of Michigan in 1941. In 1948, the Research Club at Michigan
established Language Learning: A Journal of Applied Linguistics, the first journal to
bear the term applied linguistics. In Britain, a school of applied linguistics was
established by J.C. Cartford at the University of Edinburgh in 1956 and Charles
Ferguson set up the centre for applied linguistics in Washington.D.C. in 1959. From
late 1960s, applied linguistics began to establish its own identity as an interdisciplinary
field of linguistics concerned with real-world language issues. The new identity was
solidified by the creation of the American Association for Applied Linguistics in 1977.

2.5 APPLIED LINGUISTICS ANSWER QUESTIONS SUCH AS:

1) How can we teach a language?

2) How can we write a language examination?
3) What is correct language test?
4) How can we advise curriculum planners and stakeholders of education?
5) What are challenges in translation?

2.6 MAJOR BRANCHES OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS

Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of linguistics. Major branches of

applied linguistics include bilingualism and multilingualism, conversation analysis,
contrastive linguistics, sign linguistics, language assessment, literacies, discourse
analysis, language pedagogy, second language acquisition, language planning and
policy, inter-linguistics, stylistics, pragmatics, forensic linguistics and translation
studies.

2.6.1 Essential areas of Enquiry in Applied linguistics

Applied linguistics is an area of work that deals with language use in professional
settings, translation, speech pathology, literacy, and language education; and it is not
merely the application of linguistic knowledge to such settings but is a semi-
autonomous and interdisciplinary study (James Simpson, 2011).

2.6.2 Second Language Acquisition

Second language acquisition research focuses on the developing knowledge and use
of a language by children and adults who already know at least one other language.
This field of research has both theoretical and practical importance. The theoretical
importance is related to our understanding of how language is represented in the mind
and whether there is a difference between the way language is acquired and processed
and the way other kinds of information are acquired and processed. The practical

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importance arises from the assumption that an understanding of how languages are
learned will lead to more effective teaching practices. In a broader context, knowledge
of second language acquisition may help educational policy makers set more realistic
goals for programmes for both foreign language courses and the learning of the
majority language by minority language children and adults.

Second or foreign language can be analysed in different ways, these analyses can be
organised in four areas: error analysis, developmental patterns, variability of learner
language and pragmatic features of learner language.

 Error analysis (EA) concentrates on determining whether the ERRORS

students make are systematic or not. Systematicity means that students do not
make errors just accidentally but there is some regularity in their errors. Error
analysis has four stages: identification, description, explanation and
evaluation.

 Developmental patterns: Having acquired some basic L2 expressions in the

target language students start learning grammar. One of the most interesting
features of people’s language learning is that regardless of students’ age or
mother tongue there are some developmental patterns which they follow.
These patterns refer to the order the different grammatical elements are
acquired and also the stages learners go through while acquiring elements. The
definite order in which the different grammatical structures are acquired is
called the order of acquisition. In all languages young children go from one-
word utterances to two-word sentences and to longer stretches of speech.

 Variability of learner: Learners one day speak English quite well, but on other
days they may not speak well and they feel hopeless. It is a natural
phenomenon and this is called the variability of learner language, which is also
systematic. Normally, Variability depends on at least three factors: (1)
linguistic, (2) situational and (3) psycholinguistic.

 Certain utterance can be totally unacceptable because it is not appropriate to

use in a particular context. Such study deal with how language is used in
communication. It can be called the study of appropriateness, it is also called
pragmatics.

Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics is the study of the mental processes during language use.
Generative linguist Noam Chomsky deeply influenced Psycholinguists.
Psycholinguists focus on how humans acquire language knowledge and how
knowledge is put to use. .

Psycholinguists try to give very basic answers to the following questions:

1) Do people learn their knowledge of language or is it innate?
2) How do people acquire language, especially their first language?
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 3) What happens when people produce talk, what happens when try to
comprehend it?

2.6.3 Language Teaching, Testing and Language Proficiency

Foreign language proficiency, teaching and testing are important areas in applied
linguistics. These three things are strongly related to each other and understanding
these aspects very important in applied linguistics. To improve the language
proficiency of the learner, teachers use a particular language teaching method and it
will be tested later.

To test the proficiency of learners language there are various tests we can use:

1) Achievement tests are based on syllabus or a text book and intend to test
how successfully students managed to learn the material covered in that
textbook over a week, term or year.
2) Progress tests are very similar to achievement tests as they intend to
measure progress during a course.
3) Proficiency tests are not related to any syllabus as they are intended to test
students’ level of proficiency.
4) Diagnostic tests intended for diagnosing candidates’ strengths and
weaknesses.
5) Discrete-point tests measure students’ language level at sentence level one
at a time.
6) Integrative tests test students two or more language skills together.

2.6.4 Corpus linguistics:

A corpus is a body of language material which exists in electronic form, and which
may be processed by computer for various purposes such as linguistic research. Corpus
linguistics select, structure, store, sort and scrutinize language. They do it on the basis
of the billions of words spoken and written language. Corpus linguists have to collect
spoken or written language data of daily use do record spoken or written data.

2.6.5 Lexicography
Lexicography itself is a branch of applied linguistics: it uses the insights of linguistics
to a practical end. Linguistics who work and prepare dictionaries are called
lexicographer. Lexicographers produce and evaluate dictionary. There are two kinds
of dictionaries: 1) monolingual dictionaries and 2) bilingual dictionaries.

2.6.6 Translation Studies

A translation study is very popular field of study and it is new one. The phenomenon
of translation is probably as old as language itself. The term “translation studies” was
coined by Holmes in 1972. He identified three main areas of research: 1) theoretical
translation studies. 2) Descriptive translation studies which describe act of translation
itself. 3) Applied translation studies which includes translation training, translation
aids, translation policy, and translation planning and translation criticism. Machine
translation is the latest field of study.
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2.7 SUMMARY

Applied linguistics is interdisciplinary branch of study. It addresses many language

related practical issues. This module presented a detail account of applied linguistics
(AL). The introduction and the overview has presented in the beginning. The
difference between linguistics and applied linguistics has discussed in the module. The
detail account of major branches of applied linguistics have discussed in the module.
The major branches or areas of applied linguistics are second language acquisition,
psycholinguistics, Language teaching and language testing and proficiency, corpus
linguistic studies, lexicography and translation studies.

2.8 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. What kind of individual differences do we have in language learning?

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2. What are social influences that affect language learning?

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UNIT-3 LANGUAGE VARIATIONS OVER TIME

Structure

3.0 Objective
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Language variations over time
3.2.1 Synchronous
3.2.1.2 Registers
3.2.2 Diachronous
3.2.2.1 Language trees and families
3.2.2.2 Old/Middle/Modern English: A case study
3.2.2.3 Pidgin and Creole
3.3 Language and Regional variations
3.3.1 Dialects
3.3.2 Standard language
3.3.3 Accent
3.3.4 Bilingualism and multilingualism
3.4 Language and Social variations
3.4.1 Sociolect or Social dialects
3.4.2 Registers
3.4.3 Jargons
3.4.4 Slang and colloquialisms
3.5 Language and culture
3.5.1 Construction of identity, Power and prestige:
3.5.2 Linguistic Relativity
3.6 Factors responsible for Language Change
3.7 Summary

3.0 OBJECTIVE

This unit aims at acquainting the learners with the various concepts and trends related
to language change. They will be introduced to family trees of languages and the
synchronous and Diachronous changes that take place in languages and impact them.
They would be made aware of changes that take place in languages overtime and
during the same time. They would also be sensitized to various changes in language
that exist as a result of field of profession, class, caste, gender, and region.

3.1 INTRODUCTION

“The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change -” ― Heraclitus

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Language is an integral aspect of all human communities and societies. Can you
imagine living without a language?
Think and answer the following question:

Do you and your relatives speak the same language?

When you visit your relatives in a different town do you find any difference in the
language that they speak from yours?
Do you speak the same language with your parents as you do with your friends or
teachers?
What is the meaning of ‘mouse’? Is there any other meaning too of ‘mouse’?

The way we human beings change and grow, similarly one of our characteristic
features, language, too changes and grows. As we wear different clothes in different
weathers and on different occasions, similarly languages too present themselves
differently in different situations. Any language that is living and is being used by its
speakers, it will continue to transform to make adjustments with the changing times.
As you can see, the word ‘mouse’ meant a living thing when we were young. Now it
refers to another thing as well. The meaning of the word has expanded, or changed.
The languages which stop growing, fear extinction and some become dead. Languages
change in their pronunciation, spelling, grammar, meaning of words as well as spelling
and orthography. We will look at these aspects in detail in the following sections. This
module would focus your attention on varieties and variations in language.

3.2 LANGUAGE VARIATIONS OVER TIME

Changes come in language over time. These changes can be broadly divided into two
main categories dependent upon time.

3.2.1 Synchronous:
Synchronous means “at the same time”. The differences that exist in a language
simultaneously (at one time) are called synchronous varieties. They are of two
prominent types:

3.2.1.1 Dialects: languages have different varieties that differ from one place
to another, one society to another, one class to another. I am sure you would
know that the Hindi that is spoken in Western U.P. is different from the one
that is spoken in Lucknow and similarly the Marathi that is spoken in Mumbai
is different from that spoken in Ratnagiri region. You would also know that
the language that is spoken in the urban region is different from the language
that is spoken in rural region. Similarly, the Tamil that is spoken by upper class
people will be different from the Tamil spoken by the vegetable vendors or the
Rickshaw drivers. These differences exist in the same language at the same
time.

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 3.2.1.2 Registers are the differences in language that occur at the same time
with reference to the subject matter of the profession. For example, if you look
at the language used by a journalist in a newspaper article would be different
from the language of a story on the same subject.

3.2.2 Diachronous:
Changes that occur in language over a period of time are called Diachronous changes.
As you all would know, languages do change over time. The kind of language that
your grandparents speak would be different from the language that you speak, isn’t it?
For example, the word ‘nice’ which is a compliment did not mean so earlier. The
meaning of ‘nice’ ranged from ‘simple and foolish to cowardly, elegant, and
effeminate’. Today it is a synonym for ‘pleasant’. Do check-up the change in meanings
that have occurred for a few of the common words awful, guy and gay.

3.2.2.1 Language trees and families: The renowned philologist Sir William
Jones identified similarities between three great ancient languages, Greek,
Latin and Sanskrit. He traced the closeness of some basic words in the three
languages like, mother, father and brother to prove his case. (Yule, 2010)

Word Sanskrit Latin Greek

Father Pitar Pater Patēr
Brother Bhratar Frāter Phrāter

He further argued that all these three languages were so similar that it is likely
that they all emerge from the same language, which he called the ‘proto-
language’. Thus, the idea emerged that languages are related to each other like
brothers and sisters and they have parent languages and children languages.
Thus also, came up the concept of family trees of languages just as we human
beings have our family trees. Given below is the family tree of English (which
belongs to the Germanic family of languages) and several Indian languages
(Indo-Iranian family of languages) which are in fact, cousins, as you can see
from the family tree of the Indo-European languages.

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 [source: http://www.memrise.com/course/413127/cognates-in-indo-
europeanlanguages/4/]

Do you know that many Indian languages have emerged from Sanskrit?
Gujarati, Marathi , Hindi have all come from Sanskrit. If a speaker of Gujarati
listens to Marathi, there is a good chance of understanding some of what is
being said. Similarly a Panjabi speaker can understand a little of Hindi. This is
because the languages share some things in common like, words, sentence
structure, meanings, etc. Marathi and Hindi both use the Devnagari script and
Gujarati too is similar in orthography to the two. To explain the evolution of
languages from tatsam (it was) to tadbhav (it became), let us take a case study
of the English language and trace its history over the ages in the following
section.

3.2.2.2 Old/Middle/Modern English: A case study

Can you guess how old is the English language? It is a relatively young
language. The modern form that we know of English is only a few centuries
old. English is traditionally divided into three broad periods:

Old English: before 1100 A.D.

Middle English: from 1100 to 1500 A.D.
Modern English: after 1500 A.D.

It emerged from the Germanic languages that were spoken by tribes of Europe
and when they settled in Britain, their ‘Anglo-Saxon’ language came to be
called ‘Anglisc’ or ‘Englisc’ and the land they started living in became known
as ‘Engla-land’. Several of the basic words that are used in everyday life in
English come from this period like, angel, boat, father, wif, cild, etc. During
this period, many words were incorporated into its lexicon from Latin, the
language of the rulers, the Romans. Language at this time was heavily inflected
with word endings showing the form and meaning of the word. Given below

24
 is a sample of old English (notice the orthography and the meanings of the
words used).

Gradually the language changed; it borrowed words from the languages of the
invaders, simplified the vocabulary and orthography. During the Middle
English period there was also a remarkable change in the pronunciation of
sounds, known as the Great Vowel Shift and the words sounded very different
after this period from what they sounded earlier. The language became less
inflected and there was loss of gender marker.

Many words were incorporated into its lexicon from the languages of the later
rulers, French (the Norman French rulers in the early Middle English period).
So that now we find that there are three terms referring to the same meaning in
middle English; one Englisc, another Latin and third, French. For example,
Luck-fortune-chance, and meed (now archaic)-reward-compensate. Look at
the excerpt given below from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales which is written
in Middle English.

Chaucer’s T he Canterbury Tales

If you compare both the excerpts given above, you would notice that they differ
sharply from English that you use today. The spellings are different, there are
words which sound familiar but not entirely, and some words you don’t
recognise. The orthography in Old English is also slightly different; Đ, ð, þ,
and æ are letters that you can notice in the first excerpt, not used in the middle
or modern day orthography.

After 1500 A.D. however, due to adventures into new lands and languages,
scientific and technological advancements and also industrial revolution
language went into further changes and modifications. Due to colonization and
travel, many words were borrowed from various languages into English.
Kangaroo, boomerang, bungalow, pundit, juggernaut, banana, igloo, canoe,
racoon, squash, skunk, bluff, watershed are few such words which have been

25
borrowed from various languages across the world and accepted into the
English lexicon.

Efforts were being made to standardize the spelling and grammar of English
and Dr. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary in the 18th C. Was a remarkable step in
this direction. The language however, has continued to evolve to become what
it is today and we see signs of its change every day. Here is an excerpt from
newspaper showcasing the changes being brought into language even now.

[The Times of India, 08 February 2017]

3.2.2.3 Pidgin and Creole: In some parts of the world, a foreign language
becomes important due to its commercial relevance. When foreign traders wish
to interact with the locals of a land, there is no common language of interaction
between them. Then, often, most of the business is transacted in that foreign
language and the local/native people gain a smattering of that language. They
use its basic vocabulary and simple sentence constructions with a basic aim to
be understood by their business associates. Over time it becomes an established
contact language and is called pidgin. There are several English pidgins in the
worlds like the Butler English of India, Kru Pidgin, Nigerian Pidgin. Pidgins
are not native language of any community and are used as second language for
a limited purpose of occupation only. An example from Butler

26
 English, “One master call for come India … eh England. I say not coming. That
master very liking me. I not come. That is like for India — that hot and cold.
That England for very cold.” (Wikipedia)

When a pidgin is spoken for a longer stretch of time, it develops and

standardizes its sound and grammar system and is learnt by the second
generation of speakers, then it is called a Creole. Tok Pisin, originally a Pidgin
is now a Creole and is used as the first language of its users. It has also
developed more complex structures and is used for almost all communicative
purposes than merely occupational, as is the case Pidgin.

3.3 LANGUAGE AND REGIONAL VARIATIONS

As we have discussed so far, we accept and understand that there are several varieties
of languages around us. According to Census of India of 2001, India has 122 major
languages and 1599 other languages. The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India,
as of 1 December 2007, lists 22 languages as official languages of India. The variety
of a language spoken in a region changes as one moves away from the region; the
language is still understandable but gradually the distinctions in pronunciation, lexis
and even grammar become noticeable. And after some distance, these differences
make the language unintelligible and is no longer a dialect but a different language. It
is often said

in India that ककक-ककक पर कककक कककक, ककक ककक पर कककक…. Let

us look at these geographical variations in greater detail in this section.

3.3.1 Dialects
Dialect is a variety of language that is spoken in a particular region. it is understandable
to speakers of that language but there are minor differences in pronunciation,
vocabulary or speech. If you look at the variety spoken in the southern region of a
state, it will be different from the variety spoken in the western or the northern region
of the same state in India.

Hindi spoken in western U.P. is different from that spoken in Allahabad or that spoken
in Ayodhya or that in Bhopal. Hyderabadi Hindi is different from Lucknowi. Such
regional varieties of the same language are called dialects. They are mutually
intelligible but there are marked differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and
sometimes, even grammar.

Kathiawadi is different from Surti which is different from Kutchhi (dialects of

Gujarati). Dialects are considered to be the non-standard varieties of a language.

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3.3.2 Standard language:
Have you even thought that the language that is taught to you...how is it chosen?
Which variety of language is considered fit to be taught and why not other varieties?
This question brings us to the concept of standard language. Amidst several varieties
of the same language that exist, one variety is considered as the ideal. It is usually the
variety used by administrative, commercial and social centres regardless of its region.
it is the language that we see in the printed form and hear in the media around us. It is
considered to be chaste, accent free, sophisticated variety of language. It is this variety
of language that is taught in schools, texts books use this variety and it is also
cultivated in the spoken form in formal communication.

All languages have their standard forms. Think about your own regional language
and try to identify which is the standard language?

3.3.3 Accent:
Whichever language is spoken, the speaker can be easily identified with one of its
varieties. Accent can be said to be a characteristic way of pronunciation that is unique
to the speakers of a particular variety of a language. All speakers have some or the
other accent. It’s a myth that some speakers do not have an accent. Can’t you
immediately place the speaker from the accent with which s/he speaks a language? A
fluent speaker of English in India can be easily identified as a native Bengali or
Malyali or a Punjabi speaker, isn’t it? This is because the accent of the native language
rubs onto any other language that the speaker uses and can easily be identified. Accent
is a determinant characteristic which clearly gives away the identity of a speaker even
in the case of a confirmed multilingual.

3.3.4 Bilingualism and multilingualism:

How many languages do you speak? One, two, three or more? Can you read and write
all the languages that you speak? Is there any language that you can follow (or
understand) but can’t speak or read?

Do you know that it is estimated that half the entire world’s population knows at least
two languages! When a person knows only one language he is said to be multilingual.
When two languages are known, the person is bilingual and a monolingual person
knows more than two languages. Most of the Indians are at least bilinguals. They know
their first language or the mother tongue and Hindi/English. Many Indians know four
languages and they can switch comfortably from one language to another. Are there
more disadvantages than advantages of knowing more than one language? What do
you think?

One of the languages often is predominantly comfortable to the speakers though they
can use any or all with ease. A bilingual person has advantages over a monolingual
person. In addition to the facility of using two languages and being able to interact
with speakers of two languages, a bilingual speaker is better adept to resolve conflicts
and handle situations, some researchers suggest. It is easier for them to travel to
different destinations and transact business with different people. Multi-linguals use
28
the similarities of languages to learn faster but at times the differences make them
flounder.

3.4 LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL VARIATIONS

Language is a tool of interaction among the members of a society or a speech

community. They commonly share the codes and constructs of a language. It is
therefore, inevitable that language is determined by the society and vice versa, it
determines society. In their famous hypothesis, Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee
Whorf put forward the theory of linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity. They
maintain that the structure of a language affects the speakers’ world view and
cognition. In Eskimo culture where snow is important, there are 22 distinct words for
snow whereas English has only two. Certain cultures have only a few colours and
others have many more colours and their perception of the world is coloured by their
choices of lexical items. This hypothesis has never been sufficiently proven but it
shows how significantly language and thought are interrelated to society.

3.4.1 Sociolect or Social dialects:

Every society has different classes and sections which have some peculiarities of
language that they use. The language spoken by upper classes of the society is usually
different from the language variety spoken by the lower classes. The variety spoken
by different religious groups, ethnic groups and occupational classes differ from one
another. G.B. Shaw in his play Pygmalion captured this distinction in speech between
upper class and the flower girl and her associates. In two different classes of Tamil
society in India, there is a difference in the use of the word for ‘water’. The upper class
has three words to denote water whereas the lower class has only one tanni.

In parts of U.P. the language that is spoken by one religious community differs from
that of another, one speaks Hindi and another speaks, Hindustani.

3.4.2 Registers:
It is a special stylised way of using language that is peculiar to a specific context.
There is a different kind of language used my doctors, lawyers, journalists and
priests. A doctor would say The sample did not exhibit any incidence of
abnormality in the tissue. In the Legalese it would be The plaintiff continued to
argue the infractuous matter in the appellate court. The Government has approved
the proposal to set up a new centre in the city, confirmed the spokesperson of the
government is the journalistic jargon.

3.4.3 Jargons:
The specialized vocabulary which makes registers identifiable or in other words, the
special technical vocabulary used in a specific field of work is called jargon. Acute
lymphoblastic leukaemia or Angiostrongyliasis are medical jargons, plaintiff,
appellate, and infructuous are legal jargons and thou, Him, perdition, tribulation are
jargons of use in church.

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3.4.4 Slang and colloquialisms:
The terms and phrases which do not belong to the standard variety of language but are
acceptable and frequently used in some communities or groups of people. For
example, words like, peti, khokha, thuglife, bucks, etc. Often slangs are fads and as
fashions change slangs too pass out of use frequently. Youth and youngsters have
their own informal codes and phrases which are often not used or accepted by the
larger formal speech community.

These words often are not even listen in dictionaries.

3.5 LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Language and culture are closely interrelated. Various cultural constructs, norms and
customs are captured in the language of a place.

3.5.1 Construction of identity, Power and prestige:

When you meet someone for the first time you try to guess where the person comes
from, which is the native place and the native language of the person. We are known
by our language. Even though one may live in Andhra Pradesh, if s/he speaks
Assamese or Oriya, her/his identity would be related to the first language one speaks.
Thus, our language shapes our identity. In a multilingual situation this becomes a very
interesting phenomenon as we use our knowledge of different languages to float
between different identities.

Let us understand this by taking a case study of a Punjabi Engineer working in a

multinational company in Bengaluru. When the lady comes to office, she interacts
with her Bengali boss in English, with her co-workers in Hindi as they are from various
places all over India. When she meets a Punjabi in the office she immediately starts
using Punjabi. When she goes to the market, she talks to the shopkeeper in little
Kannad that she knows. A common sight, isn’t it? Can you analyse what processes are
at work in this lady’s situation. Yes, you are right! It is the construction of identity and
belongingness that makes her change from one language to another. Her identity is
that of an employee, so she uses English, which is a formal language of intellection
and business interactions.

English is also considered as a language of power and prestige in our country. When
you want to be assertive, you change to English and when you want a favour from
someone, you use a common language to show solidarity and common identity.

Another expression of power and prestige is evident in the T/V distinctions, which
are the pronoun markers for addressing individuals. When someone addresses you as
“hey bro”, solidarity is being indicated by the use of tu (you...close) whereas
addressing someone as “Excuse me, Sir/Madam...” is a vous (respectful you...distant).
The first form of address establishes a closeness and nearness of relationship between

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the participants whereas the second form of address is reverential, formal, distant and
indicates superior-subordinate relation too. In a vous relationship, the superior may
address the subordinate by tu address but not vice versa.

In a multilingual society the workings of power, prestige and identity take a very
interesting form as described above. There are two more instances of such
interchanges. A speaker might shift frequently from one language code to another. It
may be by using words of another language in the lexicon of one predominant
language (code mixing) or switching from sentences of one language into a sentence
or two of another language interspersed in the discourse (code switching). For
example,

You know there are mast reviews about this new movie, yehi dangal...arree Aamir
Khan ki nayi movie. I am going to watch it ...kal hi...with my friends. (code mixing)

There is a lot of political uncertainty going on in Tamil Nadu. Kal O. Paneerselvam

ne resign kar diya aur ab Sasikala Chief Minister banegi. I don’t know what is
going to happen next! (code switching)

3.5.2 Linguistic Relativity:

As mentioned briefly in 35.4, languages across the world differ. One language might
value something and ascribe several words to it whereas another language might have
only one word for the same. In your language, how many words are there for ‘lotus’?
Can you think of some reasons why it is so? In Hindi there are numerous words for
‘lotus’, kamal, padma, pankaj, etc. Can you guess why there is this differentiation? Is
there anything related to culture and the construction of the society which is
responsible for this difference in two languages?

Sapir-Whorf in their hypothesis mention that our language shapes the way we view
the world. As different languages bring their relative construction to its users, they
view the world as it is influenced or determined by the language. We talk about our
external reality as we perceive it through the predetermined categories laid down by
our language. For example, in western societies, people often decide their own partner
in marriage but in India this is not the custom. So we now have two terms to
differentiate this practice, arranged marriage and love marriage. The concept of
dating is also not there in our culture; so there isn’t any relevant word for the same.

3.6 FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR LANGUAGE CHANGE

If we look closely at all the discussion we had so far with respect to the changes that
occur in languages, we can make out that there are some common factors which are
responsible for these changes.

The first factor which was responsible for changes to occur in languages, even in the
early periods was the need for simplification. Many grammatical rules which were

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complex became simplified for ease of use. This simplification often occurred due to
analogy, similarity to some other rules and languages. Earlier, as you know, the
languages were used predominantly in the oral form and there is much more possibility
of change happening in the spoken form of language than in the written form which is
more standardized and controlled.

Another factor which led to changes was the application of words in related contexts
(figurative meaning) and led to expansion, narrowing or complete change in the
meanings of words. Further, when different languages came in contact, words which
referred to cultural and contextual peculiarity were borrowed as no equivalent term
existed in the target language. This led to expansion of vocabulary as well to semantic
changes.

As different professions developed, they used stylised vocabulary and structures

unique to their field and this also brought about changes in language. Trade and
commerce between countries necessitated exchanges in languages which led to
modifications. Construction of society and culture with notions of power, prestige,
identity and solidarity facilitated changes in languages. In addition gender, age, class,
caste, race, caste and religion too played their role to modify languages. All these
factors have been responsible and continue to play a role in language change.

3.7 LET US SUM UP

Languages change in ways that make old sounds into new sounds and words into
grammar, and they shift in different directions, so that eventually there are languages
as different as German and Japanese. At all times, any language is gradually on its
way to changing into a new one; the language that is not gradually turning upside-
down is one on the verge of extinction. This kind of change is so relentless that it even
creates “languages within languages.” In separate populations who speak the same
language, changes differ. The result is variations upon the language—that is, dialects.
Often one dialect is chosen as the standard one, and when it is used in writing, it
changes more slowly than the ones that are mostly just spoken, because the
permanency of writing has an official look that makes change seem suspicious. But
the dialects that are mostly just spoken keep on changing at a more normal pace. Then,
the languages of the world tend to mix together on various levels. All languages
borrow words from one another; there is no “pure” vocabulary. But some borrow so
much vocabulary that there is little original material left, such as in English. And
meanwhile, languages spoken alongside one another also trade grammar, coming to
look alike the way married couples sometimes do. Some languages are even direct
crosses between one language and another, two languages having “reproduced” along
the lines of mitosis. There are several factors which make languages behave like
human beings. The circumstances and situation that lead languages to change and
adapt are the changing times, new requirements, societal construction and negotiations
of identity, power, prestige, gender, age, occupation and the like.

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3.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. What is Linguistic Relativity?

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2. Define:

(i) Jargon-
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(ii) Slang-
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(iii) Dialects-
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