RISKS OF GLOBAL LANGUAGE

The presence of a global language can make people lazy about learning other languages because they only
focus on it and minority languages disappear.
What makes a global language?
Not because for its simple in its grammatical structure or of the size of its vocabulary, BUT a language can
become global thanks to a political and military power of the population and also thanks to economical
power.
Why do we need a global language?
This necessity can be dated around the 20th century, when were founded different organization like
UNESCO and UNICEF, in which many countries took part. For this reason was adopted a single lingua
franca to facilitate communication in such contexts.

We can study english from three different point of view:

1. ACADEMIC VIEW:
- Strutctural view: which focuses on the nature of the specific structure of english (words, sounds)
- Variational view: in a synchronic way (english spoken in this moment in different places: different
varieties) or diachronic way (focus on the evolution of english)
- Comparative view: make differences between english and other languages can contribute to an
understanding of it.
- Social view: focuses on the social aspects in which english is used

2. FOLK VIEW: this means you have to focus on the truth of some beliefs

3. EDUCATIONAL VIEW: focuses on the ability to put the language into practice

HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

English belongs to a family of languages (Germanic languages) which belongs to another wider family of
languages (Indo-european languages).
History of the English languages can be divided into 3 moments: OLD ENGLISH, MIDDLE ENGLISH,
MODERN ENGLISH.

OLD ENGLISH
Three germanic tribes (Saxons, Angles and Jutes) come to the British Isles from Germany and pushed out
most of Celtic speaking inhabitants from England into Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.
This three tribes mixed their different germanic dialects, creating the Old English.
Before the old english, a mixture of Latin and various Celtic languages were spoken. Latin was brought to
Britain by the Romans because it was part of the Roman Empire.
Now we have only few celtic words which persist in name of rivers and place.
Around 878 AD, Vikings invaded the country and English got many Norse words into the language because
Vikings spoke old norse. There is a work survived from the old english period: BEOWULF, a poem with
3,183 lines.
Old english has been influenced by Latin, by the presence of 4 grammatical cases: nominative, accusative,
genitive and dative.
Old english’s verbes have only 2 tenses: present (used also for the future) and past. It also have 3 moods:
indicative used for statements of fact, the imperative and subjuntive. 2 types of verbs: strong verbs (irregular)
and wear verbs (regular).
Pronouns may be used in place of NOUN PHRASES.

MIDDLE ENGLISH
The duke of normandy invaded England in 1066 AD and he became king. He brought his nobles, who spoke
Franch. The old french was spoken in the high classes and the english language was considered a vulgar
tongue, spoken by the lower classes. The urge of old english was influenced by some french words and it
becomes Middle English.
Middle English was formed by latin and greek words. There was a philogical change, known as the great
vowel shift. About morphology, in the old english there was a rich conjugation system for verbs. Verbs had
different endings depending on person, number and tense. Nouns could be mascoline, feminine or neuter and
concord between nouns and their adjectiges. But this disappeared by the end of the Middle english period.
Ther was another change in syntax because in the Middle English the verb-object word order had become
dominant and it was put after the verb.
About vocabulary, english has borrowed a large number of lexems from another languanges.

MODERN ENGLISH (1500-NOW)

- Early modern (1500-1700): changes in the pronunciation of vowels, sound, new words from latin
and greek.
- Modern english (1700-now)

What is semantic? It’s the study of how languages is used to represent meaning.
Other approaches to meanings include PRAGMATICS and SEMIOTICS.
Semantic level -> focus on the literal meanings of the word.
Here is the ring  here: a deictic pronoun that indicates location
Is: verb be means exsistence in a location
The: means that both speaker and hearer know the ring
Ring: refers to an object

Pragmatic level ->how the word relates to the contest.

In comparison with pragmatics and semiotics, semantics has a narrower scope of investigation and it focuses
on the linguistic aspects.
Here is the ring could be a proposal marriage.

Semiotic -> focuses on the meaning of the words putting together linguistic and no linguistic features. And it
associates a symbolic meaning.

Semantic focuses on the linguistic aspects of meaning. We have 3 approaches:

- Formal semantics
- Cognitive semantics
- Lexical semantics
Semantic focuses on descriptive meaning : it deals with the objective content of a message ( referencial
meaning).
Various levels of meaning:
- Meanings can be vague
- Words can have more entries in dictionars
- Words can have different meanings and it could have also a metaphorical meanings
THE REFERENTIAL APPROACH
Reference: act of relating a linguistic form to something in the real word or in imaginary world. Ex: The
steak= refering expression. The cut of beef= reference.

Reference can be:

- Definite= the reference can be identify by the reader
- Indefinite= the speaker presumes that the hearer is not able to identify the referent of the expression.
- Individuative= when describes a unique characteristics of an entity. For ex, THE LION JUMPED
AT ME.
- Generic= when it refers to a universal characteristic. For ex, THE LION IS A MAMMAL.

Mill distinguishes between names:

- Concrete / abstract
- General / individual
- Connotative / non connotative

1. Denotation can be the synonym of reference because is the act of refering to the literal definition of a
word. (obj)
2. Connotation is the hidden meaning of a word, related to poet’s feelings. (sobj)

DEIXIS is the use of deictic words or expression. It refers to a word or phrase that shows the time, place or
situation a speaker is in when talking. Also known as deictic expressions, they include pronouns and adverbs
such as ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘here’, ‘there’. Can be three types:
a. Place: here, there
b. Time: now, then, today
c. Personal: he, me, Jack
It can be also social deixis: words used to express different social status, it refers to social ranking between
the speaker and the addressee. There are two types of social deixis: formal (sir- doctor- madame) and
informal (darling- honey- love)
Discourse deixis: is an expression or word used to introduce a discourse or something that relates to the
preceding or forthcoming text for orality. In written discourse: paragraphs, chapter number, section numbers,
page numbers.

THE RELATIONAL APPROACH

- Sense: the sense of a word is its meaning in relation to the linguistic system of which it is a part. It
refers to obstract concept.
- The reference of a word is the thing event, or state that it points to in the world. It is what the word
denotes, and it is exsternal to the mind

Relation approach do not consider any aspect of meaning as external to the mind.
Relations can be of two types:
- Paradigmatic type has to do with the links of an expression with other expressions that can be used
in the same syntactic slot without making the sentence meaningless.
- Syntagmatic type concerns the links of an expression to the expressions that it co-occurs with in a
phrase or sentence.

Syntagmatic relations include:

- Collocations
- Idioms
Paradigmatic relations include:
- Synonymy
- Antonymy
 - Hyponymy
- Metaphor

Collocations : the tendency of words to occur together and words that are bound together by collocations
are known as collocates. (pair of word ofterìn used together)
 Fixed: when that words can only collocate in that way
 Open: several words may be used to give a similar meaning.
It’s important to know them to say something in a natural way, to have alternative ways of saying something,
improve your style in writing.

Collocational range: set of words that can be used with a word, called the node.
Collocations depend also on the language variety and they are culture-bound (the concept can not be
understood by speaker of another language that maybe used different expression). For this reason the
translation can be total different.

Idioms: group of words in a fixed order, whose meaning can not be guessed by knowing the meaning of
each word. They can be opaque, semi-opaque, transparent.
Translating idioms techniques:
- Paraphrasing
- Omitting the play of an idiom
- Borrowing the source idiom
- Idiom similiar in meaning but dissimiliar in form
- Idiom similiar in form and meaning
- Omitting the whole idiom

PARADIGMATIC RELATIONS: Synonymy (relationship that links words that have the same or almost
the same meaning in a particular context. Words that are synonymous are called synonyms. Absolute
synonymous probably doesn’t exsist. There are also “near-synonyms”, which are synonyms with almost the
same meaning like “assassinate” or “kill”.

Homonymy is the relationship that links homonymys, words that have same sound and spelling, but
different meaning. Homographs -> same written word. Homophones -> same spoken word.
Homonyms can be:
- Lexems of same syntactic category and some spelling. Ex. Lap ‘circuit of a course’ and lap ‘part of
body when sitting down’
- Same category but with different spelling. Ex the verbs ring and wring.
- Different categories, but with the same spelling. Ex the verb bear and the noun bear.
- Different categories and with different spelling. Ex not, knot.

Polysemy: term used to refer to the different meaning of the same word.

Antonymy: words that are opposite in meaning in a particular context. There are different levels of
antonymy:
- Gradable antonyms: opposites that can be graded (large, small)
- Ungradable antonyms: opposites that can’t be graded (dead, alive)
- Converse antonyms: opposite that are mutually dependent on one another (buy, sell ; give, receive)
- Directional antonyms: opposites that concern changes of position or movements in opposite
directions. (come, go)

Meronymy: relationship between words that denotates a part of something called holynm (refers to a part
the meronyms) ex. A wheel is part of a bycyle. Wheel is called the meronym, bycile the holonym.
Hyponomy: relationhip between something specific (hyponym) and the general word (hypernym or
superordinate). Ex. Baseball is the hyponym of ball sports, which is the hypernym. (they have the same
semantic field.
PUN (also called paronomasia) is a form of wordplay which suggests two or more meaning of a polysemic
word, or of similiar – sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect.

TRANSLATING PUNS
PUN -> PUN – the source text pun is translated with a target language pun
PUN -> NON-PUN – the sorce text pun is translated with a non-punning phrase which explains the meaning
of the pun.
PUN-> OTHER FIGURE OF SPEECH – pun replaced by repetition, alliteration, rhyme-
PUN -> ZERO – pun omitted
PUN ST=PUN TT – the translator reproduces the source text pun without translating it.
NON.PUN -> PUN . introduce a pun where the original text doesn’t have it (in a part of the text -> chang in
position)
ZERO->PUN – totally new textual material is added

Metaphor: figurative expression that enables us to talk of one thing in terms of another. ( sometimes used to
communicate abstract notionsusing words or expressions taken from everyday language).
Methods of translating metaphors:
- Metaphor into ‘same’ metaphor
- Metaphor into non-metaphor
- Omission (metaphor into 0)
- 0 into metaphor

THE DENOTATIONAL APPROACH : in a denotational approach the sense of an expression is seen as

the defining properties that need to be fulfilled in any of its uses.

PROTOTYPE THEORY: in this theory the sense of an expression is assumed to be organized around the
references that normal speakers regard as the most characteristic. If an item shares at least some central
features with the category protype, we consider it as an example of this category.
THE WHORF-SAPIR HYPOTHESIS proclamed the influence of language on thought and perception. The
existence of an objective world becomes questionable. Edward Sapiris linguistic relativity hypothesis can be
stated as follows:
- The language we speak and think in shapes the way we perceive the world.
- The existence of various language systems implies that people who thinks in these different
languages must perceive the world differently.

SYNTAX : how speakers combine words to form sentences.

MORPHOLOGY: deals with grammar within the scope of words, while syntax outside the word (phrases,
clauses and sentences.

Words can be classified in 11 classes known as “Parts of speech”. They can be divided into two major
groups:
a. NAVA words: nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs. They are content words.
b. FUNCTION words: determiners, pronouns, prepositions, conjuctions, auxiliary verb, numerals.

NOUN= is a naming word

ADJECTIVE= is a word that describes something about a noun
VERB= is a doing word. It refers to an action
ADVERB= is a word that says something about other types of words

NOUN PHRASE, ADJECTIVE PHRASE, ADVERB PHRASE, VERB PHRASE

DETERMINERS= The, a, an, my, this, that, all, each, any
PREPOSITIONS
CONJUCTIONS= subordinating or coordinating
AUXILIARIES V. = modals, be, have, do
DISCOURSE MARKERS= hello, hi, yes, no, in conclusion

THE SYSTEMIC-FUNCTIONAL APPROACH

PHRASE= group of word forming a syntactic unit.
If the helds is a noun, the phrase is called a noun phrase.
I most important word the phrase contains

NOUN PHRASE=
- The held can be a noun (doll), pronoun( it), adjective ( the absurde) or a genitive.
- The words preceding the head of a NP can be determiners, numerals, adjective, nouns, genitives,
adverbes in initial positions.
A main phrase is one which is a direct part of a clause which is not part of another phrase, , while an
embedded phrase is one that is part of another phrase.

VERBE PHRASE: it’s made of 2 verbs (main verbs and auxiliary verb)
- FINITE VERBS show tense, person and number
- NON FINITE VERB forms do not show tense, person or number

PRONOUN PHRASE: have a pronoun as head.

ADJECTIVE PHRASE: adjective head
ADVERBIAL PHRASE: adverb as head
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES: PP … in the office, for miles.. since now…