The Properties of Language

Lecture #2

Do you remember?

What is Language (big-L)? What is a language (little-L)?

grammar

The systematic rules and patterns that govern word ordering. The body of knowledge that allows one to produce a particular language

Grammar

A Body of Linguistic Knowledge How to:

Combine sounds Create words Build sentences

Construct texts
Participate in conversations Language is axiomatic to being human.

Communicative Signs

Core Properties of all Communication

Form Meaning

Function

sign

Analyze this Non-Linguistic Sign

Three Types of Signs

Iconic Signifier (form) resembles signified (meaning) Indexical Signifier gives directional information Arbitrary No inherent relationship between form and meaning

How About This Sign?

???

Q:

If words are signs and they are what kind of sign are they?
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Arbitrariness

the connection between the signifier

(form) and the signified (meaning) is arbitrary

these arbitrary relationships are agreed

signified

upon by speakers, i.e. a matter of convention (consensus)

even interjections and onomatopoetic

moon
signifier
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signs are arbitrary

ouaoua ~ bow-wow ~ mng-mng ~ wan-wan ae! ~ ouch! ~ aigo! ~ aiya!

Arbitrariness

moon

mwezi

yueiliang

luna

lune
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Arbitrariness

shoe shu
cabbage shu
all

two/too/to tu

tu
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Productivity (a.k.a. Creativity)

How many utterances are there in a language?

Humans are capable of unlimited expression.

We routinely create and comprehend novel

utterances.
Rule Governed Creativity
An infinite number of utterances can be created by a

limited number of rules / patterns.

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Duality

Linguistic units have a dual nature: 1. They are observable physical events noise or image 2. They are more than simple physical events
They are produced in order to communicate meaning
They are connected to a concept

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Discreteness

What is discrete vs. continuous?

Discrete entities have clear boundaries; theyre

units; categorical. Continuous entities dont have clear boundaries. Language is DISCRETE
Language is made up structured units if you have knowledge of the system! Otherwise, utterances can sound like continuous streams of sound, without discernible units.

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The Last Three Design Features

Displacement
We can communicate beyond the here and now We are not stimulus bound

Cultural Transmission
Grammars are transmitted from one generation to the next Acquiring a language requires involvement in a culture COMPARE Genetic Transmission of big-L Language Each human is born with Language; its a biological instinct.

Interchangeability
All members of the community are physically capable of transmitting

and receiving messages

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Assessing the Design Features

Arbitrariness

Productivity
Duality Discreteness Displacement Cultural Transmission Interchangeability
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Focus on Sentences

Consider the following finite lexicon:

hugged saw laughed dog cat the a cute big baby we

*The we laughed a cute. *A a a baby cat dog the the. *Cat the hugged baby the.

Create two different sentences using only these words

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Which of the Following Strings are Grammatical?

a. I shall speak to her tomorrow b.* I shall her tomorrow speak.

Ik zal haar morgen Naeil spreken. Dutch

c.* Tomorrow her to speaking do shall.

ke-ege mal-ha-gessumnida. Korean

d.* Speak shall I with her tomorrow.

Falar-ei com ela amanh. Portuguese
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What do we Mean by Grammatical?

Prescriptive Grammar
(Prescriptively Grammatical) The set of rules (or patterns)

that are deemed to be the correct or proper way to use a language

Set by members of the

community that possess the power to enforce the rules: teachers, editors

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What do we Mean by Grammatical?

Descriptive Grammar
(Descriptively Grammatical) The set of rules (or patterns) that

characterize observed language behavior

Determined by observing

language users and extracting relevant generalizations

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Determine the Grammaticality of

Prescriptively Grammatical

Descriptively Grammatical

If a student is sick, they should go to the school nurse. What are you talking about? Nancy danced a jig. Im going to just quickly finish my lunch. I havent never been to New York. Bubba aint very bright. Her I saw the house in.

No No Yes No No No No

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes/No Yes/No No

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Grammaticality vs. Semantically Odd

* We believe that each men were created equal. The industrious bunnies baked a delicious cake for

Mimis birthday.

! The red roses are yellow.

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Relationship between Prescription and Description

Universe of all word combinations in language X Combinations that speakers actually produce Combinations that are officially sanctioned by the authorities

Descriptively grammatical but prescriptively ungrammatical

Descriptively ungrammatical but prescriptively grammatical

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Comparing Languages: Whos is Better?

Do you have the right to say that somebody elses

language is too hard or backwards or illogical or ugly? We have to be wary of 2 traps:

Because language is changing, it is getting corrupted. My language variety is more X than another.

All languages are capable of communicating what they

need to communicate.

Who gets to judge what is good?

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