SEMANA 1 Merged

WEEK 1. UNIT 1.
LANGUAGE AND
LINGUISTICS
Theme. The Status of Linguistics as a Science
Alina Martínez Hernández. PhD

“Language is a process of free creation; its laws and
principles are fixed, but the manner in which the
principles of generation are used is free and infinitely
varied. Even the interpretation and use of words
involves a process of free creation”
Noam Chomsky.
I. What is linguistics?
II. The object of linguistics
III. Origins and development
IV. Linguistic perspectives
V. The scope of linguistics
VI. Levels of linguistic analysis
To understand the scientific status of linguistics, its
scope, perspectives, and fundamental concepts
through conscious, active participation in class
debates and independent study.
Think of the following statement
Knowledge of linguistics is different from knowledge of a language
Do you agree?
If you agree, say what makes them different

Bloomfield (1933: 20-34), Linguistics is a science (science), as well as physics and
chemistry is a science.
Lyons 1968:1 Linguistics may be defined as the scientific study of language. This
definition is hardly sufficient to give the reader any positive indication of the fundamental
principles of this subject
Lim (1975:3) defines that linguistics is the scientific study of language.
In a nutshell: Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguists apply the scientific
method to conduct formal studies of speech sounds, grammatical structures, and
meaning across the world’s 6,000+ languages. (Linguistic Society of America)
Linguistics is the science of language. It is the subject whose practitioners devote their
energy to understanding why human language is the way it is. They study the history,
acquisition, structure, and use of as many language as possible (Baluyo, S. 2014)
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguists (experts in linguistics)
work on specific languages, but their primary goal is to understand the nature of
language in general by asking questions such as:
❑ What distinguishes human language from other animal communication
systems?
❑ What features are common to all human languages?
❑ How are the modes of linguistic communication (speech, writing, sign
language) related to each other?
❑ How is language related to other types of human behavior? (UCLA
Oxford’s “Lexico”: The scientific study of language and its structure, including
the study of grammar, syntax, and phonetics. Specific branches of linguistics
include sociolinguistics, dialectology, psycholinguistics, computational
linguistics, comparative linguistics, and structural linguistics. (link:
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/linguistics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rofB0pownxU
Reflection 2
You had to watch a video about linguistics and identify the main categories
used to describe it. What are two main concepts common to all definitions?
Two interacting variables
SCIENCE LANGUAGE
Science is a system of verifiable
knowledge in a continuous process of
improvement.
This knowledge is obtained through a

logical process of
reflection and verification.
Science is a single body of coherent

knowledge, built from different fields of
research that integrate and interact.
THE OBJETIVE Generate (reliable relevant)

OF SCIENCE knowledge (for problem solving)
Modification Review
Scientific knowledge is not absolute:
Verification
OBJECT
OBJECT
OBJECT
Science separates reality into
OBJECT parts to study it.
IS LINGUISTICS SCIENCE?
•To account for the
communicational features •Language nature,
of any real or potential structure, meaning,
utterance; functions rules,
•To account for the change, and diversity
capacity of all normal
native (and near-native)
speakers of a language to
convey their variety of
experience by verbal
signals through linguistic
mediation
•To create the theoretical
framework for achieving 1
and 2, and to explain the Object of
theoretical presuppositions Aim
of that framework study
Theories,
Principles
methods
and
and
categories
procedures
• Theories about language • Correct language standards
structure
• Theories about language • Principles of selection
meaning and gradation
• Theories about language use • Multiple line approach
• Theories about how languages • Structural approach lo
are learned language teaching
• Theories of language variation • Principle of imitation
• Principle of naturalness
• Principle of motivation
Linguistics is guided by three canons of science
1) Exhaustiveness: it strives for thoroughness in the

examination of relevant materials.
2) Consistency: there should be no contradiction between

different parts of the total statement.
3) Economy: other things being equal, a shorter statement or

analysis is to be preferred to one that is longer or more
complex.
Language is one of the world’s most mysterious enigmas that
people have been trying to solve for thousands of years.
Language is an arbitrary system of signs constituted of the signifier and signified. In other
words, language is first a system based on no logic or reason. Secondly, the system covers
both objects and expressions used for objects (Saussure, F. 1878)
Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,

emotions, and desires through a system of voluntarily produced sounds. (Sapir, E.1921)
The language is the inherent capability of the native speakers to understand and form
grammatical sentences. A language is a set of (finite or infinite) sentences, each finite
length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.( Chomski, N. 1957)
Language as a resource that is used for making meaning and simultaneously construes
textual, interpersonal, and ideational meanings regarding the context of use (Halliday and
Matthiessen, 2004)
Homo loquens. No other aspect of behavior is as distinctively human as
speech. P. Matthews, 2003)
Could you comment on Matthews's idea?

The human language is the most complex and emblematic system that works in unity
and interaction with human consciousness and thought.
Language is the property of a certain collective and thus a phenomenon of social history.
Every language is a prerequisite for the development of human culture, a delicate and
perfect means of communication, a means of forming thought and transmitting it to other
people.
Reflection 2
How is the author's conception of language coherent with the idea of this
epigraph?
❑ Linguistics originated in the Ancient
East, after the invention of writing.
❑ The oldest (European, Chinese and
Indian) traditions in linguistics appeared
in V, IV, III B.C.
❑ The first theoretical experience of the
description of the language
is Aṣṭādhyāyī grammar of Sanskrit by 400 BC Panini’s grammar of
Indian scientist Panini (V-IV B.C.) Sanskrit
Up to XVII – VIII C. ( Part of philosophy, rethoric, and literary analysis)
Learning only a certain language: Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Classical Arabic, Classical
Chinese (Wenyang).
Total or partial disregard for languages of other ethnicities and cultures.
A strictly synchronized approach to language i.e. the absence of any notion of
historical change of language.
Late VIII – early XIX C.
A change of approach takes place in Europe.
Synchronic approach (static) is the state of a language at any point in time.
Diachronic approach (dynamic) studies language in development
Comparative-historical linguistics . linguistic kinship of languages originating from
the same ancestral language ( Romance languages, Germanic languages)
Beginning of the XX C. The Study of Language Structure
Structural linguistics.
New and sophisticated methods of grammatical analysis
The study of indigenous languages of North America.
Ferdinand de
Saussure 1857-1913 The study of language diversity.
The second half of the XX C. Noam Chomsky´s
Generative Transformational Grammar states the idea of
innate language properties
The study of language use ( meaning and the social side of
Noam Chomsky (1928 - )
language)cognitive linguistics and sociolinguistics
Diachronic Linguistics vs Synchronic Linguistics
(dia-, through, across; chronos: time) (syn-, with, together; chronos: time)
Diachronic or Diachronous, from the Greek word Διαχρονικός (Diahronikós), is a term for
something happening over time. A diachronic study or analysis concerns itself with the
evolution and change over time of that which is studied; it is roughly equivalent to
historical. Thus diachronic linguistics is also known as historical linguistics.
A synchronic study or analysis, in contrast, limits its concern to a particular moment of

time. Thus synchronic linguistics takes a language as a working system at a particular
point in time without concern for how it has developed to its present state.
Diachronic Analysis vs Synchronic Analysis
Micro-linguistics. Macro-linguistics
includes: phonetics, includes sociolinguistics,
phonology, psycholinguistics,
morphology, syntax, neurolinguistics, stylistics,
semantics and computational linguistics,
pragmatics. cognitive linguistics,
applied linguistics
Micro-linguistics
Phonetics is the scientific study of speech sounds. It studies how speech sounds are
articulated, transmitted, and received in all living languages.
Phonology is the study of how speech sounds function in a specific language, it

studies the ways speech sounds are organized. It can be seen as the functional phonetics
of a particular language.
Morphology is the study of the formation of words. It is a branch of linguistics which

breaks words into morphemes. It can be considered as the grammar of words as syntax is
the grammar of sentences.
Syntax deals with the combination of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. It is
the grammar of sentence construction.
Semantics is a branch of linguistics which is concerned with the study of meaning in all
its formal aspects. Words have several types of meaning.
Pragmatics can be defined as the study of language in use. It deals with how speakers
use language in ways which cannot be predicted from linguistic knowledge alone, and
how hearers arrive at the intended meaning of speakers
Macro-linguistics
Sociolinguistics studies the relations between language
and society: how social factors influence the structure and
use of language.
Psycholinguistics is the study of language and mind: the

mental structures and processes which are involved in the
acquisition, comprehension, and production of language.
(storage and access of words in the mental dictionary; language processing mechanism,
etc.)
Neurolinguistics is the study of language processing and

language representation in the brain. It typically studies the
disturbances of language comprehension and production
caused by the damage of certain areas of the brain.
Stylistics is the study of how literary effects can be related
to linguistic features. It usually refers to the study of written
language, including literary text, but it also investigates
spoken language sometimes.
Macro-linguistics
Discourse analysis (text linguistics) is the study of the
relationship between language and the contexts in which
language is used. It deals with how sentences in spoken
and written language form larger meaningful units.
Applied linguistics is the study of language related

issues applied in everyday life, primarily concerned with
the application of linguistic theories, methods and
findings to the elucidation of language problems which
have arisen in other areas of experience.
Computational linguistics. An approach to linguistics

using mathematical techniques with the help of a
computer.
Cognitive linguistics. Focuses the analysis of language

as an instrument for organizing, processing, and
conveying information.
Macro-linguistics
Dialectology: examination of linguistic variety based on

geographical distribution.
Linguistic anthropology: documentation of languages,

study of language through context, and study of identity
through linguistic means.
Corpus linguistics: the study of language phenomena

through the analysis of linguistic data obtained from a
corpus
Forensic linguistics: the role of language in the

domains of law, crime investigation, trial, and judicial
procedure.
Watch the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7UO_-bC6qM
Based on this video, state your opinion about the following idea:
Language teachers need linguistics.
Final remarks by the teacher

I. Below you’ll find three slides about the place of linguistics in science. Read them
thoroughly. Based on the analysis of the information they provide, write a 160 word
paragraph about the transversality of linguistics. Include the new categories of the
theme in your course glossary.
II. In Fasold, R.&Connor-Linton, J. (2006) An Introduction to Language and
Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. Retirved in
https://repository.bbg.ac.id/bitstream/531/1/An_Introduction_to_Language_and_Lin
guistics.pdf , pp 1-7 analyze the universal properties of language and be ready to
discuss about their use for language learning and teaching.(Group work)
Philosophy - problems of «essence of language», language and society, language and
consciousness, language and culture, etc.
S
O Philology- linguistics, as part of philology, as well as literary studies the structure and
C functioning of languages;
I Logic - the relationship between lexical forms of thought and linguistic means of
A expression.
L History - the influence of various social changes on the development of language,

culture, literature and art.
S Psychology - the mental processes associated with speech creation and perception.
C Sociology - the relationship between language and society, language and nation, social
I differentiation of language, language policy, social functions of language, bilingualism
E and multilingualism.
N Anthropology is the origin of the language of primitive people.
C Religion - language in the history of religions, interpretation of the Word, translations of
E the Bible into national languages.
S Semiotics – the study of is a language as a sign system.
Hermeneutics – decrypting, reading, and understanding texts.
Biology - similarity of genetic code and natural language;
L Geography - the geographical distribution of languages and dialects,

I individual linguistic phenomena, the influence of geographical factors on the
F number of speakers of languages and the breadth of language contacts, as
E well as geographical names;
Physiology - the production of speech sounds in the speech apparatus, the
S
perception of speech flow by the hearing organs;
C
I Medicine - in the study of the zone and function of the central nervous
E system;
N Psychiatry - analysis of unconscious speech errors; pathopsycho-linguistic
C speech disorders and abnormalities;
E
Neurology - the language behavior of a person not only in normal, but also
S
in pathology; the study of all possible speech disorders, aphasia
Physics - the study of structural links between language, brain, human
E consciousness, micro worlds and macros;
X Acoustics - the technical challenges of experimental phonetics in the study

A of sounds of speech on an acoustic basis;
C Mathematics - creation of frequency dictionaries, carrying out quantitative
T
studies of linguistic phenomena, modelling processes of speech creation and
perception, application of mathematical ideas in the understanding of
S
C language as a system;
I Informatics - creation and operation of information search systems and
E automated management systems;
N Cybernetics - learning the language in its relation to computers, computer
C
word processing, creating analyzers and synthesizers of the human voice;
E
S mathematical logic - uses language as a natural sign system that can provide
material for solving formal logic problems.
Fasold, R.&Connor-Linton, J. (2006) An Introduction to Language and Linguistics.
Cambridge University Press. Retrived in
https://repository.bbg.ac.id/bitstream/531/1/An_Introduction_to_Language_and_L
inguistics.pdf
ED350882 1992-12-00 What Is Linguistics? ERIC Digest. [Revised].Retrieved in

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED350882.pdf
(UCLA https://linguistics.ucla.edu/undergraduate/what-is-linguistics/
Baluyo, S. 2014 Linguistics is the Science of Language. Retrieved in

https://es.scribd.com/doc/233194531/Linguistics-is-the-Science-of-Language
Cunningham. Language teachers’ needs for linguistics.
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1236535/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Tim Hunter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rofB0pownxU Video

Discussing videos on language and linguistics


I. Write a 160 word paragraph about the transversality of linguistics. Include the new
categories of the theme in your course glossary. n Fasold, R.&Connor-Linton, J.
(2006) An Introduction to Language and Linguistics. Cambridge University Press.
Retirved in
WEEK 2. UNIT 2. UNIDAD 2.- THE NATURE
OF LANGUAGE

Theme I. What is language?
a) Human language vs. animal communication
b) Characteristics of language.
c) Language functions
To characterize human language, its functions and its
difference with animal communication through
conscious, active participation in class debates and
independent study.
Final remarks by the teacher

I. Below you’ll find three slides about the place of linguistics in science. Read them
thoroughly. Based on the analysis of the information they provide, write a 160 word
paragraph about the transversality of linguistics. Include the new categories of the
theme in your course glossary.
II. In Fasold, R.&Connor-Linton, J. (2006) An Introduction to Language and
Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. Retirved in
• What is language?
• What is the relation between language
and speech?
• Do animals have a language?
• How many languages are there?
• How are languages related?
• What are the functions of language?
Language is an arbitrary system of signs constituted of the signifier and signified. In other
words, language is first a system based on no logic or reason. Secondly, the system covers
both objects and expressions used for objects (Saussure, F. 1878)
Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,

emotions, and desires through a system of voluntarily produced sounds. (Sapir, E.1921)
The language is the inherent capability of the native speakers to understand and form
grammatical sentences. A language is a set of (finite or infinite) sentences, each finite
length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.( Chomski, N. 1957)
Language Is a resource that is used for making meaning and simultaneously construes
textual, interpersonal, and ideational meanings regarding the context of use (Halliday and
Matthiessen, 2004)
Language is a “hierarchical” system: it is built from small units (sounds) which
combine to make up forms and words, which in turn connect to make sentences
and texts (discourse). At each stage, different rules operate for smaller units to
combine to the point of formulating a complete sentence. Since every level uses
different rules, we also need different methodologies and distinct terminology to
examine and describe each level. Therefore we need different levels of linguistic
analysis corresponding to different levels of linguistic structure.
Means of communication: Through language we communicate ideas, thoughts
and feelings
Language is arbitrary. There’s no inherent relation between the words of a
language and their meaning. There’s no reason why this
is dog in English, perro in Spanish собака in Russian)
Language is primarily vocal. First, made up of vocal sounds only.The writing

came up later.
Language differs from animal communication
Language is a form of social behavior. Learning a language is possible only in
society.
Language is a symbol system. To communicate meaning, language uses
symbols ( words)
Productivity. Speakers use different words and sentences each time they want
to express a meaning.
Interchangeability. Speakers change roles when communicating. They can be listeners
and viceversa
As opposed to speech, the
term language refers to the biological
capacity of human beings to articulate verbal
signs and, thus, to communicate using the
verbal code.
Language is also:
• the standard communication code of a
speech community.
•The set of linguistic conventions needed to
communicate in a given language
•The instrument of communicative
interaction among human beings
Speech is:
•The concrete realization of the
language by a speaker in a given
communicative situation.
•The individual act of linguistic creation
•The personal way of using the standard
code that is language
Activity 1
Work in groups. Consider de definition of language and

speech. Provide examples of each one.
Do animals have a language?
WHAT MAKES THEM DIFFERENT?
Of course, animals communicate. But they cannot have a

coherent, structured conversation. They have a limited
number of signs
Three dimensions of human communication
Discrete infinity
Displacement
Joint attention
Discrete infinity Displacement Joint attention
• A discrete system is a • Humans can talk about • Also shared
system with a limited the present the past intentionality. Human
number of things. and the future,here and language can express a
Ex.the English alphabet in any part of the shared goal
has 26 letters, but you planet or out of it. • People work in teams
can make an infinite .Topics can be with common goals.
number of words and concrete or abstract. Language helps
sentences. Ex. • Animals can only achieve those goals
• Pete says ; John says communicate about because language is
that Pete says; Mark their space and food inherently cooperative
says that John says with a limited number
that Pete says of signs
• Language is infinite!
Summarizing
Human and animal systems of

communication differ in three
key aspects:
First, humans can make an infinite amount of messages with a

limited set of building blocks.
Second, humans can talk about things other than the here and
now.
Third, language is a fundamentally collaborative tool for
humans.
What is not language linguistically speaking?
Language is used: To think and to communicate
Programming languages
The language of flowers
The language of music
Parrots can mimic words,
but theirlanguages
• Human utterancescarry
have native speakers, who learn those
languages
no meaningas infants.
• People can speak about everything with languages
• Languages are recognized as native by a more or less well-
defined community of people.
What is not language linguistically speaking?
Language is used: to think and to communicate
• Programming languages
• The language of flowers
• The language of music
• Parrots can mimic words, but their utterances carry no meaning
• Birdcalls convey messages associated with the immediate environment
• Bird songs are used to stake out territory and attract mates
• Honeybees have a communication system that relies on dance to
convey information about the location and quality of food sources to
the rest of the hive
What about sign languages?
These are the languages of deaf people. They are basically the same as
spoken language. They don’t use speech.
There are many sign languages, so there is a lot of variation.
Sign languages have exactly the same kind of functionality as spoken
languages.
They can be used to express any kind of thought.
You can make infinitely many sentences in them.
They have native speakers. They are groups of people, deaf communities,
who consider them to be their language.
Are there people without language ? (exceptional
cases)
Wolf children: Children growing up without parents or language.
One very famous example of this for linguists is the example of

Genie. Genie (feral child) was an American girl who was locked up in
her room from when she was 20 months old until the age of 13. She
didn't have any human interaction in that part of her life. Her parents
were kind of crazy. Her father would only bark at her like a dog, and
her mother was not allowed to say anything to her. Therefore, she
didn't learn any human language during her youth. Also later on, she
was not able to figure out this system of combining all these words
into sentences
Other cases
Aphasia: (the partial loss of language ability due to brain damage. People
can lose a tiny part of using language ( the ability to speak coherently or
their ability to build coherent sentences.)
THEORIES ABOUT LANGUAGE EVOLUTION
CONTINUITY BASED THEORIES DISCONTINUITY BASED THEORIES
Human communication is based on Human language is really something
animal communication. Just a different. Something must have
somewhat more complicated form happened in our development to make
of it human language possible

Study the material about language functions on SGA, Be ready
to refer to them in the next class. Provide your own examples of
each function.
inguistics.pdf



WEEK 2. UNIT 2. THEME 2.LANGUAGE VARIATION

Theme 2. Language Diversity
1. Origin of language
2. How many languages are there?
3. Language families
To value language diversity as a result of
language evolution and variation with
emphasis in language families and language
relationships
Study the material about language functions on SGA, Be ready
to refer to them in the next class. Provide your own examples of
each function.
Language came about and evolved over time in order for humans to survive
and develop. There are various explanations of language origin. For some
researchers, it was first invented and used by Homo sapiens, while others
consider that language was first used by Homo erectus. Still others believe that
language was a God’s gift to humans. He gave names to things and humans
learned those names. Despite of the number of theories, researchers don’t
know exactly when. Language likely began somewhere between 50,000 and
100,000 years ago.
Language evolved from the human
need to communicate with each other
in order to hunt, farm and defend
themselves successfully from their
harsh environment. The ability to
communicate using language gave
the human species a better chance at
survival. According to those who
believe in the adaptation theory,
language also evolved for social
interaction.
Researchers don’t agree on what the first language among humans was.
Some believe that the proto-language of Homo habilis was the first real
language. Others believe that it can be traced back to Homo erectus,
while most believe that what we understand as modern language came
from Homo sapiens.
Why do people speak different languages?.
It is believed that we speak different language, but we derive from ancestors
who spoke the same language. Our languages come from Latin, so Latin
maybe had another and a grandmother.
Studies revealed that first human beings appeared somewhere in East Africa
,from where they migrated to Europe and other countries. So, languages might
have appeared more than 100 000 years ago.
There are many areas in the world where we simply don't know which
languages are spoken there.
In other areas it is difficult to decide whether
The most heard estimate is something between 6,000 and 7,000
languages in the world. That's also the number which is given by
probably the most authoritative list of languages, which is an online
encyclopedia of languages called Ethnologue.
Many languages included in Ethnologue are very small. Many
have fewer than 1,000 speakers. Many of those languages
are dying out, they will no longer be spoken in a century from
now. As a matter of fact, some people estimate that by the
end of this century, there will be only about 300 languages
left in the whole world.
Other languages are very big. Here's the top 10, with Chinese as number one
with the biggest population of speakers, and followed by Spanish and English.
That's not just one language. There are actually many different
varieties. And those varieties in some other parts of the world might be
called separate languages.
Those 6,000 or 7,000 languages can differ from each other in many different ways:
There are languages which seem to have around 20 different vowel sounds while
other may have only two or three. Or it is even claimed that there are languages
which have only one vowel sound.
Some languages seem to put a lot of information in one long big word. (Turkish) Other
languages seem to have very short words and therefore, they have sentences with
many words (Vietnamese).
Chinese has different words for the older brother of your father and the younger
brother of your father. In English, you would always use the same word for those two
different people
English, it is necessary to distinguish between the sentences. He is nice, masculine,
and she is nice, feminine, which Chinese speakers do not have to do.
In spite of the differences, languages can be very similar. They are organized in
families of languages related to each other historically
Italian ,French, and Spanish are called sister languages because they come from
a parent language(Latin).They belong to Romance languages
French Italian Spanish

un uno uno
main mano mano
homme uomo hombre
German and English are also related to each other. They are
Germanic languages.
German English
ein One
hand Hand
Slavic languages.
Dravidian languages (South Asia –Tamil)
Niger – Congo ( Sub Sahara Africa – Swahili)
In some regions, there's still much confusion about how languages are exactly
related to each other. For instance, in South America, there's still a lot of debate
about this.
Also, there are languages that do not seem to be related to any other language in
the world. A well known example of this in Europe is Basque. It's spoken in Europe,
in Spain and France. But it's not clearly related to any other language spoken in this
continent.
There are also other reasons why languages can be similar. For instance, they
can be in contact with each other. They can be spoken in the same area and
people may borrow words from each other. Internet is an English word that we
now find in many languages, because many languages are in contact with
English
And finally, all human languages are built according to a similar scheme
because they're all spoken by humans. We all have similar bodies. We have
similar brains. And therefore, also our languages are similar.
Read the article: Language Status – Ethnologue. Explain the methodology for
summarizing the status of a language.
Refer to the different categories used to describe language status and their
meanings.
inguistics.pdf



THE FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE
MICRO FUNCTIONS:
 Physiological function (releasing physical and nervous energy)
Although it might be striking this use of language is fairly common. It is easily recognizable when
devoted fans of sports are observed while watching their favourite discipline on TV. Such fans
often shout instructions, express support, or disappointment and while as a means of
communicating with sportsmen they are useless, such cheers are to release repressed energy.
Similarly curse words are used to serve this purpose, as they rarely convey any meaning and are
only to make the speaker feel better.
 Phatic function (for sociability)
The use of such phrases as ‘nice day today’, or ‘how do you do’ is characterized by lack of any informative
content and is intended to link people and make the coexistence peaceful and pleasant. The phatic use of
language is characteristic mainly of speech, however, in certain types of writing it can also be noticed, as in
letters for example, where the beginning Dear Sir/Madam and ending Yours faithfully also serve that
purpose.
 Recording function
Recording function denotes using language to make a durable record of things that ought to be
remembered. Owing to its omnipresence writing is probably the most significant function of language.
There is evidence that the first writing system was developed in the Middle East as early as 4000 BC. At
the beginning writing systems took forms of pictures representing the things they referred to, gradually
developing into the alphabets in their present forms.
 Identifying function
Language is used also to identify the objects and events in the world we live in. Without this function
language would be almost useless, as it is thanks to the names of things that we know what is talked about.
Many primitive societies unable to write believe that names hold great power. Even in western culture
names are thought to be immensely important: the God’s name ought not to be used in vain, before giving
a name to a newborn child parents consider the choice deeply. We use names to classify different types of
things, whether we call a car anautomobile, a lorry, a van or a truck makes a big difference.
 Reasoning function (instrument of thought)
Before we say something we think and to do that we necessarily use language. In most cases it is
extremely difficult to think about anything without any use of words. In fact is it also difficult not to think for a
longer period of time as human brains work all the time processing information, thus providing us with
concepts formulated by means of language.
 Communicating function
This function would probably be pointed at by most language users without major consideration. Indeed it is
in all likelihood most commonly used language function by majority of speakers. Requesting, apologizing,
informing, ordering as well as promising and refusing are all reasons for communicating our ideas.
 Pleasure functions
The fact that language often gives pleasure both to the speakers and listeners is not only supported by the
frequent use of assonance, alliteration and onomatopoeia in poetry. Depending on the sounds of
languages some are perceived as being mild as English for example, others crude as German. People also
derive pleasure from unusual use of syntactic rules, as well as novelties of meanings juxtapositions and
language games, which is often used by skilful writers.
MACRO FUNCTIONS:
 Ideational function
Ideational function refers to the conceptualizing process involved in our mental activities. Thanks to
language we are able to understand what happens around us.
 Interpersonal function
Interpersonal function emphasizes that language is mainly a social phenomenon, but apart from enabling
communication with other people it enables to project the speaker in the desired way and to represent the
speaker.
 Poetic function
Here, the word poetic does not refer to the ability to write poetry, but the ability to manipulate language in a
creative way. With the use of jokes and metaphors we can play with words and meanings simply for joy.
 Textual function
Textual competence refers to our ability to create long utterances or pieces of writing which are both
cohesive and coherent. Unlike animals people, by use of certain linguistic devices, are able to produce long
sentences and text, and not only simple phrases.
The above mentioned functions are only one point of view on language. Most certainly there are many
other functions that natural languages fulfill, yet depending on approach to this issue the number of
functions and their names might vary.
20/11/22, 12:23 Language Status | Ethnologue
Language Status
We summarize the status of each language in each country where it is used in the Status element of a language entry by reporting two types of
information. The first is an estimate of the overall development versus endangerment of the language using the EGIDS scale (Lewis and Simons 2010). The
second is a categorization of the Official Recognition given to a language within the country.
The EGIDS consists of 13 levels with each higher number on the scale representing a greater level of disruption to the intergenerational transmission of the
language. Table 1 provides summary definitions of the 13 levels of the EGIDS.
Table 1. Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale

Level Label Description
0 International The language is widely used between nations in trade, knowledge exchange, and international policy.
1 National The language is used in education, work, mass media, and government at the national level.
2 Provincial The language is used in education, work, mass media, and government within major administrative subdivisions of a
nation.
3 Wider The language is used in work and mass media without official status to transcend language differences across a region.
Communication
4 Educational The language is in vigorous use, with standardization and literature being sustained through a widespread system of
institutionally supported education.
5 Developing The language is in vigorous use, with literature in a standardized form being used by some though this is not yet
widespread or sustainable.
6a Vigorous The language is used for face-to-face communication by all generations and the situation is sustainable.
6b Threatened The language is used for face-to-face communication within all generations, but it is losing users.
7 Shifting The child-bearing generation can use the language among themselves, but it is not being transmitted to children.
8a Moribund The only remaining active users of the language are members of the grandparent generation and older.
8b Nearly Extinct The only remaining users of the language are members of the grandparent generation or older who have little
opportunity to use the language.
9 Dormant The language serves as a reminder of heritage identity for an ethnic community, but no one has more than symbolic
proficiency.
10 Extinct The language is no longer used and no one retains a sense of ethnic identity associated with the language.
The EGIDS levels are designed to largely coincide with Fishman’s Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale, or GIDS (Fishman 1991). We refer users to
Fishman’s work for an orientation to this approach to evaluating endangerment and to the original work on EGIDS (Lewis and Simons 2010) for the
rationale behind the development of the expanded framework. The descriptions of the levels presented here have been adjusted to take into account
significant feedback on the scale that has been received since its initial development. Most notably, the EGIDS level descriptions have been reworded to
take into account signed languages (Bickford et al 2014). Like the GIDS, the EGIDS at its core measures the level of disruption of intergenerational
transmission. Therefore, stronger, more vital languages have lower numbers on the scale and weaker, more endangered languages have higher numbers.
In comparison to GIDS, the EGIDS includes some additional factors at both the stronger and weaker levels of the scale and thus adds some levels not
included in the original scale. As a result, the EGIDS can be applied to all of the languages of the world. In addition, two of the levels in the GIDS (6 and 8)
have been split (6a, 6b, 8a, 8b) in the EGIDS in order to allow for a finer-grained description of the state of intergenerational transmission in the presence of
language shift (or revitalization). The EGIDS uses letters to distinguish these divided levels in order to maintain numbering alignment with Fishman’s
better-known GIDS. Each number on the EGIDS has also been assigned a one or two word label that summarizes the state of development or vitality of the
language. The labels are intended to provide mnemonics for those who prefer to use words rather than numbers. In a few cases, alternative labels are
assigned to a level in order to distinguish significantly different situations that are associated with the same level on the scale. Table 2 lists the alternative
labels that are used.
Table 2. Alternative labels for other special situations

Level Label Description
5 Dispersed The language is fully developed in its home country, so that the community of language users in a different country has
access to a standardized form and literature, but these are not promoted in the country in focus via institutionally
supported education.
9 Reawakening The ethnic community associated with a dormant language is working to establish more uses and more users for the
language with the results that new L2 speakers are emerging.
9 Second The language was originally vehicular, but it is not the heritage language of an ethnic community and it no longer has
language enough users to have significant vehicular function.
only
How the EGIDS Works

The EGIDS is a multi-dimensional scale which focuses on different aspects of vitality at different levels. Like Fishman’s GIDS, the EGIDS, at its core, measures
disruption in use. At the weakest levels of vitality, EGIDS 9 (Dormant) and EGIDS 10 (Extinct) the primary factor in focus is the function of the language as a
marker of identity. If no one still associates the language with their identity, the language can be considered to be Extinct. If there is an ethnic group that
https://www.ethnologue.com/about/language-status 1/4
associates its identity with the language but uses the language only for symbolic purposes to remind themselves of that identity, the language can be
categorized as Dormant (EGIDS 9).
At EGIDS levels 6a (Vigorous), 6b (Threatened), 7 (Shifting), 8a (Moribund), and 8b (Nearly extinct) the primary factor in focus is the state of daily face-to-
face use and intergenerational transmission of the language. Each successively weaker level on the scale represents the loss of use, generation by
generation.
EGIDS 4 (Educational) and EGIDS 5 (Developing) bring into focus the degree to which the ongoing use of the language is supported and reinforced by the
use of the language in education. This largely focuses around issues of standardization and literacy acquisition and the degree to which those are
institutionally supported and have been adopted by the community of language users.
EGIDS 3 (Wider Communication) focuses primarily on the notion of vehicularity. If a language (whether written or not) is widely used by others as a second
language and as a means of intergroup communication, it has greater vitality than a language with a smaller number of users and which is seen as being
less useful by outsiders. Where we have data, we report the use of each language by speakers of other languages.
EGIDS 2 (Provincial) and EGIDS 1 (National) focus on the level of recognition and use given to the language by government. Beyond purely official use,
however, the focus includes the widespread use of the language in media and the workplace at either the provincial (sub-national) or national levels. EGIDS
0 (International) is a category reserved for those few languages that are used as the means of communication in many countries for the purposes of
diplomacy and international commerce. Because the Ethnologue organizes the language entries by country, EGIDS 1 (National) is the strongest vitality level
that we report.
The EGIDS levels are hierarchical in nature. With only one exception, the scale assumes that each stronger level of vitality entails the characteristics of the
levels below it. Thus, for example, a language cannot be characterized as EGIDS 5 (Developing) if it cannot also be characterized as being at EGIDS 6a
(Vigorous). A language with written materials which is not used for day-to-day communication by all generations and which is not being passed on to all
children cannot be categorized as EGIDS 5 (Developing). The one exception to this principle is EGIDS 3 (Wider Communication) where the vehicularity of
languages of wider communication is counted as being weightier than the existence of an orthography and the use of the language in education. Some
languages that are widely used for intergroup communication are not used in formal education and have no written materials. Were these languages to
lose that vehicularity, they would drop directly to EGIDS 6a (Vigorous).
Methodology
The EGIDS levels reported in the Ethnologue were initially arrived at by inspecting our database and analyzing the factors that we categorized as indicators
of vitality. In many cases, we had sufficient data to allow an initial EGIDS evaluation. Where the data were not sufficient, we set the EGIDS default value at
EGIDS 6a. The initial estimates were then distributed to a large number of correspondents who were asked to review the data and make corrections based
on their knowledge of specific countries, regions, language families and individual languages. This review process resulted in many corrections and
revisions. Any remaining unreviewed or uncertain estimates were more closely scrutinized and, after soliciting additional commentary from
knowledgeable sources, decisions were made as to how best to evaluate the EGIDS level in each case. These initial EGIDS estimates, though based on the
best information available to us at that time, were preliminary and the review process has been ongoing. We encourage users of the Ethnologue to provide
us with comments and corrections that will lead to a more accurate assessment for inclusion in future editions.
The existence of an EGIDS estimate for every known language in every country provides a useful resource for the assessment of language vitality globally,
regionally, and country-by-country. For instance, this site includes histograms that use this information to plot summary profiles of the language situation
in each of the major geographic areas, UN regions, and countries of the world. The existence of such data opens up the possibility for other kinds of
analysis, such as the evaluation of the vitality of language families (see, for example, Whalen and Simons 2012).
Official recognition
If a language has an official function within a country or is specifically recognized in legislation, the entry for the language includes a description of the
nature of its recognition. When that recognition is by statute, the specific law is also cited. Table 3 lists and defines (with examples) the fourteen language
recognition categories that are used.
In developing these recognition categories, we have adapted the general framework described by Cooper (1989:99–103). Following Stewart’s (1968)
identification of the official function of languages in a country, Cooper further distinguishes between statutory, working, and symbolic official languages.
To that we have added a further distinction between those same functions at either the national or the provincial level. This descriptive framework
identifies the legal foundation (if any) for the recognition, the nature of the official use of the language, and the geopolitical scope of that use and
recognition. The combination of these three parameters (legal status, nature of use, and scope of application) results in the first twelve function categories
that are listed in table 3. The final two categories represent any other kind of statutory recognition for a language, either for some designated purpose or
by the association of the language with an officially recognized ethnic group.
The distinction between statutory and de facto functions is relatively straightforward. When a language function is described as statutory, it means that
there is a legal document such as the constitution of the country, language or diversity policy legislation, or the like, that specifies the functions for which
the language will be used. Whenever the function is identified as statutory, we provide the name of the relevant statute. We are unable at this time to
distinguish in all cases between legislation that is in force and legislation which may not be enforced though it is still legally viable. As for de facto status, in
many countries languages are commonly used for governance functions but there is no formal legislative mandate for that use. In those cases, we identify
the function as de facto.
Table 3. Official recognition categories and definitions

Function Definition Example
Statutory national This is the language in which the business of the national government is conducted and this is Bengali [ben] in
language mandated by law. It is also the language of national identity for the citizens of the country. Bangladesh,
Indonesian [ind] in
Indonesia,
Spanish [spa] in Spain
Statutory national This is a language in which the business of the national government is conducted and this is Danish [dan] in
working language mandated by law. However it is not the language of national identity for the citizens of the country. Greenland,
English [eng] in India,
French [fra] in Rwanda
Function Definition Example

Statutory This is the language of national identity and this is mandated by law. However, it is not developed Irish [gle] in Ireland,
language of enough to function as the language of government business. Kituba [mkw] in Congo,
national identity Maori [mri] in New
Zealand
De facto national This is the language in which the business of the national government is conducted but this is not Standard German [deu]
language mandated by law. It is also the language of national identity for the citizens of the country. in Germany,
Japanese [jpn] in Japan,
Setswana [tsn] in
Botswana
De facto national This is a language in which the business of the national government is conducted, but this is not English [eng] in
working language mandated by law. Neither is it the language of national identity for the citizens of the country. Botswana,
Spanish [spa] in
Andorra,
Tagalog [tgl] in
Philippines
De facto language This is the language of national identity but this is not mandated by law. Neither is it developed Algerian Arabic [arq] in
of national enough or known enough to function as the language of government business. Algeria,
identity Jamaican Creole English
[jam] in Jamaica,
Tokelauan [tkl] in
Tokelau
Statutory This is the language in which the business of provincial government is conducted and this is Assamese [asm] in
provincial mandated by law. It is also the language of identity for the citizens of the province. India,
language Slovene [slv] in Italy,
Turkish [tur] in Greece
Statutory This is a language in which the business of the provincial government is conducted and this is Portuguese [por] in
provincial working mandated by law. However, it is not the language of identity for the citizens of the province. Macao,
language Russian [rus] in Ukraine
Statutory This is the language of identity for the citizens of the province and this is mandated by law. Danish [dan] in
language of However, it is not developed enough or known enough to function as the language of government Germany,
provincial identity business. Turkmen [tuk] in
Afghanistan,
Walloon [wln] in
Belgium
De facto This is the language in which the business of the provincial government is conducted, but this is not Yue Chinese [yue] in
provincial mandated by law. It is also the language of identity for the citizens of the province. China,
language Faroese [fao] in
Denmark,
Hausa [hau] in Nigeria
De facto This is a language in which the business of provincial government is conducted, but this is not Greek [ell] in Albania,
provincial working mandated by law. Neither is it the language of identity for the citizens of the province. Central Kurdish [ckb] in
language Iran
De facto language This is the language of identity for citizens of the province, but this is not mandated by law. Neither Aceh [ace] in Indonesia,
of provincial is it developed enough or known enough to function as the language of government business. Khinalugh [kjj] in
identity Azerbaijan,
Tausug [tsg] in
Philippines
Recognized There is a law at the national level that names this language and recognizes its right to be used and Mamara Sénoufo [myk]
language developed for some purposes. in Mali,
New Zealand Sign
Language [nzs] in New
Zealand,
Saafi-Saafi [sav] in
Senegal
Provincially There is a law at the provincial level that names this language and recognizes its right to be used Plains Indian Sign
recognized and developed for some purposes. Language [psd] in
language Canada,
Valencian Sign
Language [vsv] in Spain
Language of There is a law that names the ethnic group that uses this language and recognizes their right to use Lisu [lis] in China,
recognized and develop their identity. Puma [pum] in Nepal
nationality
The nature of the use of a language in government operations is specified using the term “working” or “identity” or the absence of these terms. When a
language is identified as a working language, it means that the operations of the government (debate in parliament, the language of the laws, the
language used in government offices, on official forms) may be carried out in the language, but the language is not the language of identity of the majority
of the citizens. There are many countries where an international language or the language of a colonial power is used for day-to-day operations of the
government, but national (or provincial) identity is linked to a different language. On the other hand, when a language is identified as a language of
identity, the reverse is true. The majority of citizens identify that language as being closely associated with their identity but for practical reasons the
language is not generally used for governmental operations. In these cases, the language often has a very strong symbolic use to reinforce a common
identity and to build national or provincial unity. In the final case, in which the language functions both as the working language of the government and as
the language of identity for the majority of the citizens, the label for the category is simply “national language” or “provincial language”, implying both the
working function and the identify function.
In terms of geopolitical scope, we distinguish between the national and provincial levels of recognition and use. When a language is identified as
performing a particular function at the provincial level, we describe the geopolitical regions involved. If there are many, that description may be reduced to
a summary statement.
Some languages are not used or recognized for all of the functions of governance as described above, but may instead be granted only partial or limited
recognitions by law. Those languages have been identified more generically as a “recognized language”. Though our data are admittedly incomplete, we
attempt to describe the nature of the recognition and its geopolitical scope in as many cases as possible. In addition, in some countries, ethnic groups or
nationalities are given official recognition rather than their languages. In some cases these recognized nationalities speak multiple languages. We attempt
to identify the languages of such officially recognized nationalities using the label “language of recognized nationality”.
The recognition category for each language is based on the best research available to us. As with all Ethnologue information, we welcome corrections and
updates from informed users.
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This web edition of the Ethnologue may be cited as: Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2022. Ethnologue:
Languages of the World. Twenty-fifth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com.
Copyright © 2022 SIL International
WEEK 3. UNIT 3. THE SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE

Theme 1.- Phonetics
1.1- The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
1.2.- Articulatory phonetics
1.2.1- Supra-segmentals.
1.3. Acoustic phonetics
To get familiar with the process of sound production
through understanding the anatomy of the vocal track ,
the physical properties of sounds, and their
representation in the international phonetic alphabet
(IPA) working in groups and independently.
PHONETICS PHONOLOGY
• How do language or ganize

• How are speech sounds
sounds to distinguish different
made? words?
• How many different • How do languages restrict, or
sounds do languages use? constrain, sequences of
• How does sound travel sounds?
through the air? • What sorts of changes
• How is it registered by the (alternations) can sounds
ears? undergo?
• How are sounds organized
• How can we measure
into syllables, words, phrases)
speech?
PHONETICS PHONOLOGY
Studies the physical

and physiological Studies them as part
aspects of sounds of language
PHONETICS
Articulatory phonetics: studies

the articulation and physical
characteristics of sounds.
Acoustic phonetics: studies the effects of

sounds in the ears of the hearers, the
mechanism of hearing, and the measuring
of speech for further study
Basically, sound is
vibrating air. Speaking
means using your
vocal tract (lungs,
trachea, larynx, mouth,
and nose) to get air
moving and vibrating,
and then shaping that
movement in different
ways.
Most speech sounds are produced with the air existing in
the lungs: speech begins with breath:
1. You pull down the diaphragm ( this enlarges the lungs
and the air draws in.
2. The diaphragm relaxes and the muscles around the
ribs contract slowly squeezing the lungs and forcing
the air up to the trachea
3. At the top of the trachea we find the larynx (the
Adam's apple)
4. Inside the larynx there lie the vocal folds (vocal
cords).
5. The air flowing out of the trachea causes them to flap
open and close.
6. He pharynx is the open area at the back of the mouth
allowing the tongue freedom for front an back
movement
The different sounds
are shaped in the
upper part of the vocal
track
Inside the moth there are

active articulators (the
lips and the tongue) and
passive articulators (the
alveolar ridge, hard
palate, soft palate or
velum.
AREAS OF THE TONGUE
Apart from sign languages, which obviously are produced in a
slightly different way, every language is produced by sounds.
• There's a finite inventory of sounds, which a language uses
that's roughly something between 20 and 200 different vowels
and consonants.
• All languages use these small sets of building blocks,
combining them and making them into words.
• All languages work with these small sets of vowels and
consonants.
THREE DIMENSIONS OF CONSONANT SOUND ARTICULATION
Labial [p], [b],

Place of
Alveolar [t], [d], Where in the mouth?
articulation
Velar [ŋ],
Other
Stop/Plosive [p], [b],

Manner of Fricative [s], [z], [f], How is the sound
Affricates [tS], [dZ],
articulation produced?
Nasal [m], [n],
Approximant [r], [l] (lateral
in other languages)
Voiced [b], [dZ], What do you do with

Voicing the streem of air?
Voiceless [p] [t]
VOWELS
Vowels are more difficult to describe than consonants. They the most
open manner of articulation. Different vowel sounds are made by
moving the tongue body up or down, front or back, and by rounding
or spreading the lips.
During all vowel sounds, however, the vocal tract is relatively wide
open, and air flows out freely
VOWELS. WHY IS IT DIFFICULT TO DESCRIBE THEM?
The most common number of vowels for a language to have is five.
Though English writers use just five letters to encode their vowels (relics of an
older system), the English language uses more than a dozen different vowel
sounds.
Another reason is because the exact number of vowels and exact vowel quality
differ from dialect to dialect, much more so than for the consonants.
ENGLISH VOWELS
ENGLISH VOWELS
Vowels also differ with respect to lip rounding:

In General American English, the back vowels [u, U, o, ç] are round, all
other vowels are unround
.
Finally, English divides its vowels into two sets, tense and lax. The tense
c
vowels [i, e, o, u] are longer, slightly higher,and produced with greater
stiffening of the tongue root than their lax counterparts [I, E, ç, U].
Two other English vowels are used only in short, unstressed syllables.
The mid-central vowel called schwa, is heard in the first syllable of about
and the second syllable of rosa’s. The high, central occurs in the second
syllable of roses
ENGLISH VOWELS
Another sort of vowel is a diphthong, which combines two different

posittions in sequence. The diphthong [ai], as in General American high,
c
moves from a low central position to high front. The diphthong [aυ], as in
General American how, moves from low central to high back. And [o]
moves from mid back to high front
SUPRASEGMENTALS
Aspects of speech that influence stretches of sound larger than a single segment
tone
intonation
length
SS
Syllable stress
structure
SUPRASEGMENTALS
Group work
Read pages 28-33 of An Introduction to Linguistics.(R. Fasold and
J.Connor-Linton) and characterize suprasegmental elements of
phonetics. Provide examples from the book and your own.
Is the part of phonetics that studies how the articulators turn air
movements into sound, what happens to sound after it passes
through the lips, how it travels through the air, and how it impacts on
the ears and brain (and sometimes the microphones, recorders, and
computers)
Sound waves Articulation is all about getting air to move in ways that can be heard –
vibrating, popping, or swishing. They provide patterns of vibration.
Sounds vibrate at a particular rate, or frequency. The moving patterns
of vibration are called sound waves. Their frequency makes sounds
simple or more complex.
So, depending on the shape of the tongue and lips, each vowel sound
has a characteristic, complex pattern of vibration. The vibration moves
out past the lips, and propagates into the world. The sound waves
travel through the air at the rate of about 340 meters per second, until
they impinge on a membrane tuned to receive them, such as the
eardrum.
HEARING
The hearing mechanism.

MEASURING THE SPEECH
The objective of this part of acoustic phonetics is to study sound and voice
patterns and frequency to provide data for linguistic studies.
The beginnings
Before de 1900 the only instruments for sound analysis were the ears.
After the 1900s, phoneticians began to use osciloscpes and
spectrographs. They used a microphone to transfer patterns of vibration in
the air into patterns of variation in electrical current.
These variations could then be displayed – on paper or a screen – or
passed through banks of capacitors and resistors for further measurement
and study.
XXI Century
In the first part of the twenty-first century, speech analysis is done by

computer.
But then computers convert a continuously varying sound wave into a series
of numbers
Once represented and stored in a digital format, sound files can be
mathematically analyzed to separate out the different frequencies, and the
results of the analysis displayed on screen in various formats.
inguistics.pdf



WEEK 3. UNIT 3. THE SOUNDS OF LANGUAGE

Theme 2.- Phonology
2.1. Phonemes and allophones. Alternation and allomorphs
2.2. Types of phonological alternations
To get familiar with language sound patterns and their
variations; the phones and phonetic segments that
occur in the language, the different types of
phonological alternations and phonological rules
through working in groups and independently.
All human beings have basically the same structures in their vocal
tracts and in their ears.
Why are languages

so different?
❑ People use different sounds from the repertoire

of possible human vocal tract noises
❑ They organize those sounds into varied
patterns
Phoneme
Any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that
distinguish one word from another, for example p, b, d, and t in the English
words pad, pat, bad, and bat. (Fassold &Connor, 2015)
The smallest unit of speech distinguishing one word (or word element) from
another, as the element p in “tap,” which separates that word from “tab,”
“tag,” and “tan.” Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia.
Any of the abstract units of the phonetic system of a language that

correspond to a set of similar speech sounds (such as the velar \k\
of cool and the palatal \k\ of keel) which are perceived to be a single
distinctive sound in the language
Phoneme
A phoneme is the smallest sound unit in a language that is capable of conveying a

distinct meaning, such as the s of sing and the r of ring
Phonemes are language-specific. In other words, phonemes that are functionally

distinct in English (for example, /b/ and /p/) may not be so in another
language. (Phonemes are customarily written between slashes, thus /b/ and /p/.)
Different languages have different phonemes.
Phoneme
We can only speak of

It contrasts with the the phoneme of some
particular speech
other phonemes in
variety (a
the system particular accent of a
particular language).
Languages differ in the number of phonemes they

distinguish...but every valid word in every language
necessarily consists of some permissible sequence of
that language's phonemes." (R.L. Trask, A Dictionary of
Phonetics and Phonology. Routledge, 2004)
Allophone
Allophone
/t/
phonemic (abstract/mental)
category in your mind
[t] [th] allophonic (phonetic) realizations

what you actually say
Allophone
Allophones function as a single sound; for example, the p’s of “pat,” “spat,” and
“tap” differ slightly phonetically, but that difference, determined by context, has
no significance in English. Allophones are predictable phonetic variants of a
phoneme.
Examples of allophones
pill spill till still kill skill
/pʰ/ /tʰ’/ /kʰ/
p t k
/k/
/p/ /t/
Allophones
The difference between the plosive sounds in pill, till, kill and spill, still, skill is
called aspiration. These sounds occur in complementary distribution. This means
that where one sound of the pair occurs, the other does not.
The word “complementary” actually refers to the fact that the contexts in which the
allophones of a phoneme appear can never be the same and they cover the whole
range of possible environments in which the sound can occur
/d/
dama /d/ d
lado /đ/ /đ/

The case of t in American English
◾ Recognized by speakers ◾ Speakers hear them as
as separate sounds the same sound
◾ Allophones are different
◾ Differentiate between versions of the same
words (kill/dill/will), so phoneme, so they never
they appear in appear in the same place
overlapping distribution in a word: thun, but not
sthun. “sthun” and “stun”
with each other (all at the aren’t different words.
same place in a word) ◾ That means allophones
◾ Phonemes are the of a single phoneme
appear in
separate sounds of a complementary
language distribution.
inguistics.pdf



PHONOLOGY
CONTRAST
PREDICTABILITY
(different
(Allophones)
phonemes)
ALTERNATIONS
ALTERNATION
It is seen when the same morpheme is pronounced

different ways depending on the context. A new
context is created when we add new morphemes
(prefixes and suffixes) to an entry to create a new
word or word form. Dog –s.
Depending on the context different allophones are
pronounced.
Within the same morpheme no alternations occur:
Nasals in camp, wind, and think don’t change
ALTERNATION
Let´s consider prefix -in before a vowel or an alveolar, -in is

pronounced [In]: inedible, inaudible, intolerable, insufferable.
Before bilabials [m], [b], or [p], it becomes [Im]: immobile,

imbalance, impossible.
before [k] or [g], it’s pronounced [Iŋ] Try to say incorrect,

incredible
ALTERNATION
Rule:
“Nasals must agree in place of articulation with a following
stop” applies not just within morphemes (like camp and wind )
but also when morphemes are combined
ASSIMILATION
Two sounds that are different become more alike.
Voicing assimilation is one very common alternation across languages. In

English, the plural suffix agrees in voicing with a previous stop: two cats
[kæts] and two dogs [dagz].
The Russian word for ‘from’ is either [ot] or [od]:

‘from home [od doma] [ot ∫koli] from school
DISSIMILATION
The opposite of assimilation. Two sounds that are similar become

different.
One impetus for dissimilation may be ease of articulation. Two sounds
that are similar but not exactly the same seem to be particularly difficult
to pronounce correctly right next to each other.
English: fifth, sixth, change to [ft], and [st], [fift] and [sikst],
Greek, the word for school was [sxolio], with two adjacent voiceless
fricatives.
In Modern Greek, this has become [skolio], with a fricative–stop
INSERTION (EPENTHESIS)
Insertion is usually related to syllable structure. Generally vowels are inserted to

break up strings of consonants.
English plurals of ending in s dresses [drεsIz].
Can you provide other examples of insertion in English?

Can you provide examples of insertion in Spanish?
DELETION
The opposite of insertion. Instead of breaking up a sequence of

consonants with a vowel, a language may choose to delete one of the
consonants (as in the loss of the initial [p] in pneumonia, psychology
[k] knowledge, know. [g] gnoseology
Grandmother: Intermedial [d] Is usually deleted
Vowels can also be deleted: when they are untressed [e] several,
interesting, general, mystery, funeral, vigorous, Barbara (sevral, in∫restIŋ,
genral, memry, funral, vigrous, Barbra)
Study pages 301-317 Fromkin , Rodman & Hyam; An Introduction
to Language (Seventh Ed.) and describe the rules of phonology
that apply to English. Provide examples from the book and from
dictionaries, when possible.
The paper should include an introduction ( presenting its

objective, and description); a body or development (including the
definition of the main categories treated in the paper, each rule
and examples), and a final section (stating your conclusion about
the most productive phonological rules in English)
WEEK 5. UNIT 3. MORPHOLOGY
1.1. The notion of lexicon. What is a word?.

Word structure
2.2. Morphemes, Morphological operations of
the world’s languages

A. Lexicon definition
B. Some historical facts
C. Definition of morphology .
D. Benefits of morphology
E. Words and morphemes
F. Classification of morphemes
To describe some of the various morphological phenomena found
among the world’s languages, leading to generalizations about
word structure in a particular language through working in groups
and independently..
We all have an internal mental dictionary called a lexicon i.e. the vocabulary
of a given language, particularly as opposed to grammar or speech sound. It
is also called lexis. The study of the structure of a lexicon is called lexicology.
MORFOLOGY IS ALSO
CONCERNED WITH THE
STUDY OF WORDS
❑ The area of grammar concerned with the structure of words and with
relationships between words involving the morphemes that
compose them.
❑ The branch of linguistics that studies the structure of words.
❑ Deals with the syntax of complex words and parts of words, also
called morphemes, as well as with the semantics of their lexical
meanings.
❑ The study of the internal structure of words and their meaningful
parts.
❑ A set of morphemes + the rules of how they are combined
PANINI, the ancient Indian
linguist in the 6th century BC
formulated the 3,959 rules of
Sanskrit morphology in the
text Aṣṭādhyāyī
Following this tradition,
studies were made about
Greek and Arabic morphology
In 1786 Sir Williams Jones claimed
that Sanskrit, Latin, Persian, and
Germanic descended from a common
ancestor
In 1899, under the influence of Darwinian theory

of evolution, Max Muller stated the study of the
evolution of words illuminated the evolution of
language just as in biology morphology
According to Muller, the study of the
400-500 basic roots of the Indo-
European ancestors of many of the
languages of Europe and Asia was
the key to understanding the origin of
human language.
Max Muller
August S chle iche r
A German linguist who

coined the term “morphology”
which derived from the Greek
words μορφή ("form") and
λόγος (“study, account").
❑ Morphology deals with the structure of complex words
and parts of words, also called morphemes, as well as
with the semantics of their lexical meanings.
❑ Understanding how words are formed and what

semantic properties they convey through their forms
Decoding. Readers who recognize morphemes read more
quickly and accurately.
Vocabulary. Knowing the meaning of word parts expands

reader’s vocabulary.
Comprehension. Knowledge of morphemes helps building

meaning from text.
Spelling. Morphemes are units that can be predictably spelled.

Understanding how words are formed and
what semantic properties they convey through
their forms enables human beings to easily
recognize individual words and their meanings
in discourse.
ORTHOGRAPHY
PHONOLOGY
SEMANTICS
SYNTAX
An orthographic description.
• As units in the writing system: words are uninterrupted
strings of letters
• For ex. writing is a word because there are blank spaces
surrounding it.
A phonological description .
• Words as phonological units: spoken in isolation each word

can only have one main stress
• E.g. Words as elements of the system. The underlined
characters indicate the main stress
A semantic definition
• Words as meaningful units:
• a. Words express unified concepts
• b. Words are the minimum meaningful units of a language..
A syntactic definition
Words as syntactic units: words are the smallest syntactic
elements in a sentence
▪ The smallest unit which has a meaning or grammatical
function that words can be broken down into
▪ The smallest unit of language that carries meaning

(maybe a word YES,SAY, IS, SÍ, CON, EN or not a word
UN,DIS, ING, S, DES, INTER, ITO)
▪ A sound-meaning unit
▪ A minimal unit of meaning or grammatical function

WORD VS. MORPHEME
The smallest The smallest sign

free- standing in a language
sign in a (smallest form with
language a specific meaning.
A morpheme is not equal to a syllable:
● "coats“ has 1 syllable, but 2 morphemes.
● “memory" has 2 syllables, but only 1 morpheme.
Every word has at least one free
morpheme, which is referred to as the
root, stem, or base.
Stem (root, base): the morpheme to
which other morphemes are added.
Free morphemes are meaning-carrying units that can stand alone.
―play‖
❑ Bound morphemes are meaning-carrying units that CANNOT stand

alone
❑ Prefixes and suffixes are bound morphemes, and some stems are
also bound morphemes.
introspective= three bound morphemes prefix intro- stem -spect suffix

-ive
❖ Morphemes are considered to be either ―free‖ when they can occur as
separate words or ―bound‖ when they must be attached to other
words.
❖ For example, the word ―dogs‖ consist of two morphemes: free
morpheme ―dog‖ and the bound morpheme ― s‖ that acts as a marker of
plurality.
❖ Morphological Rule: Words fit together in certain ways/words are built out
of smaller bits by another set or rules – ―People must have a mental rule
for generating new words from old ones‖ (Pinker, 2007)
The English noun comes in 2 forms (dog and dogs)

The Spanish noun comes in three forms (muchacha,mochacho,muchachos,
muchachas
The English verb in 4 (bark, barks, barked, and barking)
The Spanish verb has many more forms
❖ Sometimes altering a free morpheme by adding or removing a
bound morpheme results in a change in the meaning of a
word/part of speech.
Ex. Adding the bound morpheme ― -er‖ to the verb ―
teach‖
results in a noun.
These morphemes are considered derivational because the
new word is derived from a stem word.
teach (verb) teacher (noun)
happy (adjective) happiness (noun)
elect (verb) election (noun)
Inflectional morphemes: when added to words, no
change occurs to the part of speech or to the
meaning of the base word.
Ex: marker markers (plural)
Cindy Cindy’s (possessive)
walk walked (past tense)
Group work 1.
Study pages 61-64 from Fassold and Connor, An Introduction to
Language and Linguistics and find the definitions of each kind of
morphemes. Provide examples of each type. Be ready to discuss
them in our next sesión.
Different languages use morphemes, the system of putting
morphemes together, to different degrees. And that turns
out to be very useful for classifying languages.
Analytic languages - morphemes are not bound to one

another, word order carries a lot of importance. Almost
every word is composed of only one morpheme (e.g.,
Chinese). They are also called isolating languages
 Synthetic languages: add many inflections to words (e.g., port‖
and portas‖ in Latin)— word order in a sentence is not as fixed
as it is in English (F&F., p. 169)
 Agglutinative languages: combine many morphemes to make

a chain of words (Korean, Japanese)—morphemes not changed
like in English (-s or –es for plural)
Polysynthetic languages: each word can be translated
as a whole sentence. Navajo dictionaries list
morphemes, not words because every word is made up
of many morphemes and represents a whole sentence.
Bantu languages (native African languages) are also
polysynthetic (Freeman & Freeman, p. 170 )
In some languages (Japanese for example),
individual morpheme carries more case information
(i.e., S, IO, and DO) than the word order as in
English. One can switch around the order of the
words several different ways and still retain the same
meaning of the sentence (e.g., 6 different ways to
express - X gives Y to Z‖, F&F, p. 171).
inguistics.pdf



WEEK 6. UNIT 4. MORPHOLOGY
Practical Lesson

1. Reviewing morphological processes
2. Practice on morphological rules and processes
To apply the morphological rules studied in this unit to the analysis
of different words through working in groups and independently..
Languages make use of various morphological operations to modify
the form and meaning of lexemes.
AFFIXATION
(prefixation, Reduplication
Compounding
infixation, and
suffixation) Blending
Shift
Accronyms Clipping
Back formation Onomatopaeia Conversion
Extension
Derivational morphology creates new lexemes from existing ones,
with a change in the word’s lexical category or meaning, or both.
Inflectional morphology adds grammatical information to a lexeme,

as required by the particular grammatical rules of each language.
Some common inflectional contrasts found among the world’s
languages are person, number, gender, case, tense, aspect, and
mood
In some languages, such as English, German, and Dutch, compounding
can be highly recursive, meaning that a derived compound can serve as
the base for further compounding:
Toe + nail
toenail + clipper
toenail clipper + accident
toenail clipper accident + insurance
toenail clipper accident insurance + Company
toenail clipper accident insurance company + employee
toenail clipper accident insurance company employee + benefits etc.
The main identifying element in each compound is called the head
Inflection adds grammatical information to a lexeme, depending on the
particular syntactic requirements of a language.
Person is a grammatical feature that distinguishes entities referred to in

an utterance. First person refers to the speaker (in English, I/me). Second
person refers to the addressee (you) Third person is a default category
that refers to everything else (for example, she/her, he/him, it, the dog,
John.
Number is a grammatical property of nouns (often marked via agreement
on verbs and other elements such as determiners and adjectives). The
most fundamental contrast is between singular (‘one’) and plural (‘more
than one’), although many languages also mark a distinct dual form (‘two’)
Slovenian English Russian

mesto (sing.) ‘city’ gorad
mesti (dual) ‘two cities’ goroda (2-4 cities)
mesta (plur.) ‘cities goradov (five and more)
Gender. From Latin genus and French genre, meaning ‘kind’ or ‘sort.’
Gender agreement helps to indicate which adjectives, determiners, etc.
are associated with a particular noun.
Terms like “masculine” and “feminine” usually describe gender in

some languages with a two-way distinction (like French and Spanish),
or “masculine,” “feminine,” and “neuter” for some with a three-way
distinction (like German and Russian).
Neutral gender in Russian is marked by suffixes –o. –e (akno

vielichstvo,znanie)
Tense provides information about a current or imminent situation, events
that occurred in the past, no matter how distant, or speculate about
situations that may or may not happen far into the future.
In some languages (as in English) future is not morphologically marked
via inflection; rather we use various auxiliary forms or the simple present
form:
He’s leaving next week.
He’s going to leave next week.
He will leave next week.
He leaves next week.
Aspect is a grammatical category that encodes a different kind of
temporal characteristic, such as whether an action is (or was)
completed, ongoing, repeated, or habitual. For example, in English one
can say:
a. John is painting the kitchen.
b. John was painting the kitchen.
c. John painted the kitchen
This aspectual distinction is found in many languages; the

“ongoing” meaning is sometimes referred to by linguists as the
imperfect(ive) and the “completed meaning is called the
perfect(ive)
Imperfective
Juan leía cuando entré
John read-IMP when (I) enter-PAST
‘John was reading when I entered.’
Perfective
Russian
On chital vies dien (imperfective)
He was reading the whole day.
On prochital knigu za dva chiza
He finished reading the book in two hours
Mood is a grammatical category that expresses the speaker’s belief,
opinion, or attitude about the content of an utterance.
Indicative (general truths )

Imperative (commands
Interrogative (for questions)
Subjunctive (to express unreal actions, hopes and desires)
Conditional (to express what someone would or should do)
Activity 1. Provide examples for each mood in English and Spanish

Task 1: List the bound morphemes in these words
fearlessly, misleads, previewer, shortened, un- happier
Task 2: What are the inflectional morphemes in these expressions?

(a) Have you eaten yet?
(b) Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?
(c) She is younger than me and always dresses in the latest style.
(d) We looked through my grandmother’s old photo albums.
Task 3: Work with a partner to create a new list of words
using both sets of bound morphemes (derivational &
inflectional in Theme 1). The team with the most words
wins!
 Work with a partner to create an invented word
using known word parts. Make sure to come up with
the definition for your invented word.
Example: prehydrophobic: before one became

afraid of water.
 The class will try to guess what your word means!
 The team that ―stumps‖ the class with their made
up word also wins!
inguistics.pdf



WEEK 7. UNIT 3 THE STRUCTURE OF LANGUAGE
TEMA 1.- SYNTAX. SENTENCE STRUCTURE
❑ Compositionality
❑ Recursion
❑ Restriction
❑ Differences among langages
❑ Functional Syntax
To understand the general characteristics of
syntax and syntactic units through the analysis
of its basic concepts, working in groups and
individually.
A fundamental property of the grammar of every language is
that it is compositional: sentences are made of clauses
and phrases, which in turn are made up of smaller clauses
and phrases or words.
the units of higher rank

being analyzable
(decomposable) into
units of lower rank.
UP
SENTENCES
CLAUSES
PHRASES
WORDS
MORPHEMES
BOTTOM
Projection
Composing the structure of a sentence begins with words
that belong to categories like noun, verb, preposition,
adjective, and determiner. These words are the heads
of phrases
Noun Phrase (Noun)

Verb Phrase (Verb)
Prepositional Phrase
(Prep.)
Adjective Phrase (Adject.)
Averbial Phrase (Adverb)
Projection
To build up a sentence, we take words from the

lexicón.We use two types of categories (lexical and
functional).
Using lexical categories we form phrases of the

category: Mary (NP). Then we need other categories
live (V). Next door (NP) (Complementarization)
Merging
We merge the sentence using functional categories or

inflection.
Mary lives next door (inflection)

Projection
Merging
Adjunction. allows modifiers (such as adjectives
and adverbs) to be included in phrases. Once
phrases are constructed by projection and
merger, they can be further modified by
movement and deletion.
Recursion
Allows the same grammatical processes to apply

repeatedly, with no principled limitation on how often
they may apply. This means that there is no longest
sentence in any language, and consequently no limit
to the number of sentences it has
Recursion
Multiple adjunction
Embeding
Coordination
IMPORTANCE OF RECURSION
Because grammars have recursive devices which permit

expressions to be indefinitely long, they can produce an
infinite variety of sentences.
Since recursion is an integral part of the grammar, it
follows that no one can learn a language by memorizing all
the sentences of that language. There must be some other
explanation for how human beings are able to learn them.
❑ There are remarkable differences among languages:
❑ The word order between heads and complements can
vary Not all languages have movable WH-phrases.
❑ Grammatical gender is far more varied and important to
the syntax of many languages than it is in English.
Formal syntax.
Is based on deducing
abstract grammatical Functional syntax
principles from observing emphasizes the
what sentences are influence of language
possible and not possible, use on its structure.
without regard to how they
are used.
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
TREE DIAGRAM
⚫ Root (entire
the child found the puppy
sentence)
⚫ Leaves (individual
words) the child found the puppy
⚫ Hierarchical
structure the child found the puppy
(groupings)
⚫ Constituent the puppy
structures
Constituent Structure (every sentence has one or
more)
Synthetic buffalo hides Synthetic buffalo hides
synthetic buffalo hides synthetic buffalo hides
buffalo hides synthetic buffalo

SYNTACTIC CATEGORIES
A family of expressions that can substitute one

another without loss of grammaticality
Ex. The child found the puppy.
Your neighbor found the puppy.
This yellow cat found the puppy.
He found the puppy.
❑ Noun Phrase (NP) – subject or object in the

sentence
❑ Verb Phrase (VP) – verb by NP or PP
❑ Sentence (S)
❑ Determiner (Det)
❑ Adjective (Adj)
❑ Adverb (Adv)
❑ Noun (N)
❑ Pronoun (Pro)
❑ Preposition (P)
❑ Prepositional Phrase (PP)
❑ Auxiliary Verb (Aux) –have, be, will, must, etc.
❑ Verb (V)
PHRASE STRUCTURE TREE
Constituent Structure

S

NP VP

Det N V NP
the puppy
Det N
NP VP
Det N V NP
the child found Det N
the puppy
NP VP Syntactic Categories
Det N V NP
the child found Det N Lexical Categories-lowest

categories in the tree.
the puppy
Node
MORE PHRASE STRUCTURE TREES
NP VP
Det N V NP PP
the boy saw Det N P NP
the man with Det N
the telescope
Three different structural positions representing three grammatical relations.

MORE PHRASE STRUCTURE TREES
NP VP
Det N V NP PP
the boy saw Det N P NP
the man with Det N
the telescope
Reveal ambiguities
MORE PHRASE STRUCTURE
TREES
NP VP
Det N V NP
the boy saw Det N NP
the man P NP
with Det N
Reveal ambiguities
the telescope
THE INFINITUDE OF LANGUAGE
❑ There is no longest sentence in any language

❑ Speakers can lengthen any sentence by
various means
❑ Adding adjectives, clauses, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGP8wqE0Kkg
Example: House that Jack built (nursery rhyme)

This is the farmer sowing the corn,
that kept the clock that crowed in the morn,
that waked the priest all shaven and shorn,
that married the man all tattered and torn,
that kissed the maiden all forlorn,
that milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
that tossed the dog, that worried the cat,
that killed the rat, that ate the malt,
that lay in the house that Jack built.
NP
N PP
Limitless aspect of language
Det
Is reflected in phrase structure
P NP Trees.
Det N PP
P NP
Det N PP
P NP
Det N
the girl with the feather on the ribbon on the brim

NP
But as the structures grow longer
They become more increasingly
Det N PP
Difficult to produce and understand.
P NP -due to short term memory limitations
-muscular fatigue*
Det N PP -breathlessness, etc.*
P NP
Det N PP
P NP
Det N
the girl with the feather on the ribbon on the brim

PHRASE STRUCTURE RULE
S → NP VP
l NP → (Det) (Adj) N (PP)
P NP → that S
P NP → Pro
P VP → V (NP) (PP) (Adv)
v PP → P NP
1. S → NP VP
the boy found the ball
2. NP → (Det) (Adj) N (PP)
the beautiful girl on the piano

3. NP → that S
NP
that S
I love Jenny
NP VP
NP NP NP NP
the suitor knows that S
“Embedded”
I love Jenny
4. NP → Pro
I, You, We
5. VP → V (NP) (PP) (Adv)
blew the boat into the water suddenly

6. PP → P NP
of the people
for the people
by the people
RULES IN OTHER LANGUAGE
❑ Sweden
❑ NP → N
Det
▪ Mann en
❑ Japan
❑ PP → NP P
⚫ Tokyo kara
S
NP VP
Pro V Pro
I thank you
WEEK 7. UNIT 3 SYNTAX
THEME 1.- SENTENCE STRUCTURE
To understand the general characteristics of
syntax and syntactic units through the analysis
of its basic concepts, working in groups and
individually.
From the Greek σύν syn, "together", and τάξις táxis, "an
ordering“ arrangement
Refers directly to the rules and principles that govern

the sentence structure of any individual language
structure (word order)
Grammar
Mental representation of a speaker’s linguistic competence.
What a speaker knows about the language, including its

phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and lexicón.
The grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence.
(Cambridge Dictionary, 2018)
The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed

sentences in a language
(English Oxford Living Dictionary, 2018)
Syntax is the branch of linguistics that concentrates on the

formation of sentences.
(Haegeman, 2006:4)
The rules of sentence formation.
The component of the mental grammar that

represents speakers’ knowledge of the structure of
phrases and sentences.
Studies the way in which the units and their meanings

are combined.
Deals with the peculiarities of syntactic units and their

behavior in different contexts
■ Humans can understand & produce an infinite number of
sentences they never heard before
■ “Some purple gnats are starting to tango on
microwave”
■ Our grammar can understand and produce
long sentences
“Bill said that he thought that the esteemed leader of the
house had it in mind to tell the unfortunate vice president that
the calls that he made from the office in the White House that
he thought to be private.
■ Determine the grammatical relations in a
sentence
Mary hired Bill. Vs. Bill hired Mary
Chief swore president the Justice the in new
This sequence is made up of meaningful words
DOES IT MAKE SENSE?
Every sentence is a sequence of words.

But not every sequence of words is a sentence.
Sequences of words that conform to the
rules of syntax are said to be …
well formed
GRAMMATICAL
Sequences of words that violate the
rules of syntax are therefore…
ill formed
UNGRAMMATICAL
Determined by rules shared by the
speakers of a language
Is not based on what is taught in school but on the rules
constructed unconsciously as children.
Children acquire most of the syntactic rules of their
language even before learning to read.
Does not depend on having heard the sentence
before.
Example:
Enormous crickets in pink

socks danced at the prom.
❑ Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
❑ A verb crumpled the milk.
❑ I gave the question a scuba-diving egg.
❑ *Furiously sleep ideas green colorless.
❑ *Milk the crumpled
❑ *the question I an egg scuba-diving gave
• Some grammatical sentences are nonsensical while some

ungrammatical sentences make sense.
• Identifying the ungrammatical tells us about the
syntax of a language
Does not depend on the truth of the sentence.
If it did, lying would be impossible.
Example:
SYNTACTIC RULES ACCOUNT FOR:
❑ Grammaticality of the sentence

❑ Word order
❑ Structural ambiguity
❑ Grammatical relations
❑ Whether different structures have different
meanings
❑ The creative aspect of language
SYNTAX AND MEANING
Meaning Differences or Ambiguity:

A single stretch of speech or writing can have two or more
than two distinct meanings.
Ex: the word ‘bank’ side of a watercourse,
financial institution.
The police shot the robber with a gun.

The elements of the above sentence can be grouped in two
ways and this makes the sentence ambiguous.
❑ The police shot the robber with a gun.

❑ The police with a gun shot the robber
AMBIGUITY
1. I saw a man on a hill with a telescope.
2. Call me a taxi, please.
3. I'm having an old friend for dinner.
4. A new weight-loss study requires a larger sample group.
5. Marriage is a fine institution, but I’m not ready for an

institution.
6. Miners refuse to work after death
7. I bought a bed for a lady with wooden legs and four

drawers
GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS
Grammatical Relations and how they are understood,
Ex. Mary hired Bill.

Bill hired Mary.
Bill was hired by Mary.
KINDS OF SYNTACTIC THEORIES
Transformational .Generative Grammar TGG
(Zelling Harris , Noam Chomsky)
The main point of TGG is that the endless variety of

sentences in a language can be reduced to a finite number
of kernels (basic constructions) by means of
transformation.
These kernels serve the basis for generating sentences

through syntactic processes.
The six kernels commonly associated with the English
language:
1. NV – John sings.
2. NVAdj. – John is happy.
3. NVN – John is a man. (admits no passive transformation)
4. NVN – John hit the man.
5. NVNN – John gave the man a book
6. NVPrep.N – The book is on the table.
Flying planes can be dangerous
a) The action of flying planes can be dangerous

b) The planes that fly can be dangerous
c) Planes can be dangerous
d) People fly planes
e) Planes fly
Communicative Syntax
Communicative Syntax
Pragmatic approach. (John Austin Speech

Act Theory)
Is the study of the way language is used in

particular contexts to achieve particular
goals .
The notion of speech act presupposes that
an utterance can be said with different
intentions or purposes and therefore can
influence the speaker and situation in a
different way.
Pragmatic approach
Pragmatic approach
BASIC SYNTACTIC NOTIONS
Fasold, R.&Connor-Linton, J. (2006) An Introduction to Language and
Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. Retrived in
inguistics.pdf



WEEK 7. UNIT 3 SYNTAX
TEMA 1.- SENTENCE STRUCTURE. (PRACTICAL
ACTIVITY)
To examine sentence types and patterns
working in groups and individually.
Group work.
❑ Study pages 123 -137 Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams : An
Introduction to language. Seventh Ed.
❑ Summarize the epigraphs:

Sentence Structure, Syntactic Categories, Heads and
Compliments, and The Infinity of Language.
❑ Prepare a presentation including the most important ideas

in each epigraph. Be ready to discuss them in our next
class.
Fasold, R.&Connor-Linton, J. (2006) An Introduction to Language and
Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. Retrived in
inguistics.pdf



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WEEK 1. UNIT 1.

Alina Martínez Hernández. PhD

Knowledge of linguistics is different from knowledge of a language

If you agree, say what makes them different

Lim (1975:3) defines that linguistics is the scientific study of language.

This knowledge is obtained through a

Science is a single body of coherent

THE OBJETIVE Generate (reliable relevant)

1) Exhaustiveness: it strives for thoroughness in the

2) Consistency: there should be no contradiction between

3) Economy: other things being equal, a shorter statement or

Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,

Could you comment on Matthews's idea?

A synchronic study or analysis, in contrast, limits its concern to a particular moment of

Phonology is the study of how speech sounds function in a specific language, it

Morphology is the study of the formation of words. It is a branch of linguistics which

Psycholinguistics is the study of language and mind: the

Neurolinguistics is the study of language processing and

Applied linguistics is the study of language related

Computational linguistics. An approach to linguistics

Cognitive linguistics. Focuses the analysis of language

Dialectology: examination of linguistic variety based on

Linguistic anthropology: documentation of languages,

Corpus linguistics: the study of language phenomena

Forensic linguistics: the role of language in the

Language teachers need linguistics.

Final remarks by the teacher

L History - the influence of various social changes on the development of language,

L Geography - the geographical distribution of languages and dialects,

E consciousness, micro worlds and macros;

X Acoustics - the technical challenges of experimental phonetics in the study

ED350882 1992-12-00 What Is Linguistics? ERIC Digest. [Revised].Retrieved in

Baluyo, S. 2014 Linguistics is the Science of Language. Retrieved in

Tim Hunter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rofB0pownxU Video

Watch the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7UO_-bC6qM

Language teachers need linguistics.

Alina Martínez Hernández. PhD

Language teachers need linguistics.

Final remarks by the teacher

Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,

Language is primarily vocal. First, made up of vocal sounds only.The writing

Work in groups. Consider de definition of language and

Of course, animals communicate. But they cannot have a

Three dimensions of human communication

Human and animal systems of

First, humans can make an infinite amount of messages with a

Language is used: To think and to communicate

One very famous example of this for linguists is the example of

CONTINUITY BASED THEORIES DISCONTINUITY BASED THEORIES

Human communication is based on Human language is really something

animal communication. Just a different. Something must have

somewhat more complicated form happened in our development to make

of it human language possible

ED350882 1992-12-00 What Is Linguistics? ERIC Digest. [Revised].Retrieved in

Baluyo, S. 2014 Linguistics is the Science of Language. Retrieved in

Tim Hunter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rofB0pownxU Video

Alina Martínez Hernández. PhD

French Italian Spanish