ANTH 1150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Flag Signals, Arbitrariness, Phonology
Outline the component elements that make up language (such as
phonemes, syntax and grammar)
1.
Describe how human language works as a gesture-call system
2.
Discuss and evaluate some of the theories regarding the relationship
between language and though
3.
Explain the meaning of language families and the relevance of
historical linguistics
4.
Be able to illustrate how language is a form of symbolic
communication
5.
Describe how linguistics are able to transcribe the vocabulary and
structure of any spoken language
6.
Be able to relate how different languages are interconnected to each
other in language families
7.
Learning Outcomes:
Chapter 4 (pages 73-94)
What makes human communication unique is its symbolic nature
○
Human beings are not the only living creatures capable of some form of
communication
•
Language in an inherent part of culture as it is the primary means by
which we transmit culture
•
Many languages are disappearing as globalization and mobility
alter social circumstances
○
Not long ago there were around 6000 human languages in use to
varying numbers of people
•
It also includes such non-verbal behaviour like body language,
posture, or non-verbal languages such as sign languages used by
the deaf, the use of hand and smoke signals (among various
indigenous peoples), flag signals, and electronic systems
○
This is referred to as the Gesture-Call system
○
Human symbolic communication is much broader than the oral and
written languages
•
Introduction: The Nature of Human Language
There are many misconceptions or stereotypes about language
•
Others thought languages became simpler (with fewer
inflections) as a result of growing complexity in the divisions of
labour and specialized tasks
○
Neither of these positions are supported by empirical evidence
○
For a long time, many people thought that societies with simple social
structures had language with simpler grammatical structure or with
fewer phonemes and smaller vocabularies
•
The anthropological view is that this is not the case
○
Another common stereotype is that some languages were better or pure
puse than others
•
However, the criteria for any form of ranking of languages are
political, not linguistic
○
Some languages are associated with more powerful groups, or have
become standardized as a result of universal education
•
Misconceptions about Language
*Read: Fundamentals of Linguistic Anthropology
http://anthrotheory.pbworks.com/w/page/29532388/Linguistic%
20Anthropology
Arbitrariness1.
Displacement2.
Productivity3.
Duality of Patterning4.
Whatever form it takes, human language always has the following four
characteristics:
•
All animals have communication systems, some of which are fairly
complex (especially in primates)
•
What makes human forms of communication unique is the presence of
all four of the characteristics
•
Characteristics of Language
We are all genetically programmed to talk but one will speak the
language they are taught growing up
○
Although all human beings have the capacity for learning some form of
language, the manner in which people speak (or communicate through
body language) has nothing to do with their biological or genetic make-
up
•
This is unlike some early systems of writing by pictographs with
fixed meanings denoted by pictures
○
The notion of arbitrariness (when applied to language) means that there
is no obvious, natural or necessary connection between the symbol (or
word) and what is symbolizes
•
Arbitrariness
This term refers to the ability to communicate across space and time
•
Animals can communicate among each other in order to warn of
impending danger, or the presence of food, based on what can be
perceived in the immediate environment
•
Our ability to use past and future tenses and to think abstractly allows
for displacement
•
The ability to convey information about the location of
nectar indicated displacement but not productivity
!
Ex. Honey bees have a form of communication, a circular dance
in to indicate to other bees where they can find nectar
○
Thus, some species may have a form of communication characterized
by displacement but not productivity
•
Displacement
Human language makes it possible to convey messages about many
different topics
•
The notion of semantic productivity in the language refers to our ability
to use language creatively "to generate an infinite number of sentences
according to a finite number of rules"
•
Semantic = meaning
•
Semantic Productivity
Refers to the use of contrasting sounds (based on the ability to
discriminate between a limited number of closely related sounds), as
the basis of the structure of language
•
Phones vs phonemes
○
Phonemes vs morephemes
○
Concept of allophones
○
This aspect of human communication is somewhat technical and
requires an understanding of such analytical distinctions
•
Language is more than just communication; it is a dynamic infinitely
creative extension of our consciousness
•
Duality of Patterning
There are many theories about how human language originated, but we
can only make intelligent guesses on the basis of indirect evidence
•
The imprints left by the convolutions of the brain on ancient skulls, and
the size of the frontal lobe (where the forehead is located) indicates that
the necessary intelligence required for language might have been
present as early as a million years ago (with Homo erectus)
•
Such artifacts as burial sites decorated with animal bones (which imply
a belief in the afterlife), the cave art in France and Spain of the upper
paleolithic (30,000 years ago) is so sophisticated that is seems likely
that language skills would also be developed
•
The development of symbolic communication must have been a crucial
component of the increasing reliance on culture as a more flexible form
of adaptation
•
Some linguists also argue that once stone tools became sufficiently
complex it would seem reasonable that those who made them possessed
language to pass on such complex technology
•
The adaptive aspects of language no doubt reinforced it among early
users as they would have a considerable advantage among their
competitors
•
The growth of the brain and the ever increasing use of language
enhanced our capacity for culture in fundamental ways
•
The Origins of Human Language
Components of Language
The units of sound (=phonemes) will alter the meaning of a
words as they are varied
○
The phonemes "b" and "p" change the meaning
!
Phonemes can be explained such as the contrast of the
pronunciation of the words Abit and Apit in English
○
A sound change in butter and budder illustrated that the "t" can
be changes to a "d" without a change in meaning, so these are not
phonemes
○
Phonemes often occur in minimal pairs
○
There are also pairs of consonant, intonation, stress, and
many sounds coming out of people's mouths which you
may have never heard
!
Phonemes do not consist only of vowels
○
Language selects only a limited number of many possible sounds or
phones as the basic building blocks for forming words
•
These are quite different words which happen to sound
exactly the same (and use exactly the same set of
phonemes)
!
Ex. "I" and "eye"
○
The starting consonants represent exactly the same
phoneme
!
Ex. "Night" and "Knife"
○
Two words or parts of words with exactly the same sounds (phonemes)
may be spelled in entirely different ways (or visa versa)
•
These words would be exactly the same in pronunciation except
for a single sound (or phone)
○
He or she must recognize the words are distinct or agree
that one of the words be a distinct word
!
Thus, an English speaker would not only recognize "bat"
and "vat" as different words, but would also accept "bap"
and "pap" as different words
!
It does not matter is the speaker thinks one of the founds was
pronounced funny
○
The Minimal Pair Test: in order to ascertain whether or not two
different phones serve as phonemes in a particular language, the
linguist presents a native speaker with what he believes are two
different words
•
Sounds: Phones and Phonemes
The contrast between phonetics (phones) and phonemics (phonemes)
is similar to the distinction between etic vs emic, that was originally
coined by a linguistic who extended these concepts to a broader range
of human cultural behaviour
•
It usually requires not only an outside observer, but sounds
equipment which can accurately record different sounds used in
human speech
○
In linguistics, phonetics (observer) is the objective recording of human
sounds as they are used in daily life
•
It is not sufficient to turn on the tape recorder and record the
sounds
○
One has to find out if the native speaker actually hears different
sounds and considers them to be distinctive or contrastive
○
In contrast, it is impossible to do a correct and accurate phonemic study
without taking into account whether or not the sounds made by the
speaker of a language are meaningful sounds
•
Phonetics vs. Phonemics: External vs. Internal
Linguists refer to words (including synonyms) as morphemes, which
are defined as the basic units to convey meaning
•
This morpheme is used to covey the idea of plurality
!
This morpheme is never used on its own, but has to be
added to a free standing morpheme (cat --> cats)
!
Ex. "…ss" (producing a hissing sounds)
○
Most morphemes are indeed simply words, but not all units of
meaning stand alone
•
In some cases, morphemes may even take the form of a change in
sound (ex. Run --> ran)
○
Morphemes which can stand on their own (real words) are known as
unbound morphemes, while those which are not are called bound
morphemes
•
Most unbound morphemes are made up of more than one
phoneme (ex. Dog = 3 phonemes)
○
Note: a morpheme consists of (or is expressed through) one or more
phonemes, which in term may or may not have variations (allophones),
which in term are still distinct sounds (phones)
•
The French language does not use stress to distinguish meaning
○
Contrasting stress is used in English to distinguish between words or
phrases which sound the same in every other way (ex. Light
housekeeper vs. lighthouse keeper)
•
Morphemes & Words: Morphemes vs. Phonemes
Historical Linguistics
Likewise, all three of these languages are more closely
related to each other than anyone one of them is to Punjabi,
although they are all derived from some common (and now
extinct) proto-language called Indo-European
!
Looking at the Indo European language chart, English is more
closely related to German than to French
○
All these languages are derived from Indo European's who spread
their culture far and wide
○
Linguistics systematically compare different languages by
examining slight shifts in the sound structure of words with
similar meaning
○
There are at least 30 language families, groups of languages that share a
common history that may be found through comparison of vocabulary
and syntactic structure
•
This statistical method is used to infer the probable dates when
various members of a language family separated from one
another or from their parent language
○
This is the heart of historical linguistics
○
A statistic comparison of such selected vocabulary items is called
glottochronology (glotto=tongue, chronos = time)
•
Such variation would also have existed in the case of now-extinct
languages (like Latin)
○
Another way of looking at the relationship between different
language is the concept of a language continuum
○
However, the notion of different languages in somewhat misleading,
since all languages have variations or dialects associated with different
sub-groups, classes, or regions
•
Language Families and Subgroups
http://www.danshort.com/ie/iecentum.htm
•
Indo European Languages
Anthropologists, linguists and psychologists have had many debates
about the way human language affects the way people think and even
how they perceive the world around them
•
A classic theory of linguistics is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which
states that the syntax, or grammatical structure, of a language has a
profound influence on the way people perceive, and even experience,
the world
•
This is the more philosophical aspect of linguistics
•
Also consider the relationship between how people make a living
and language -we think about and name the things we value
○
They noted that the Hopi in the US southwest has no terms to express
past and future directly and indeed had a life style focused in the
present
•
Language, Thought & Perception
Sociolinguistics refers to the study of language in its social context
•
Things like social dialects indicate the existence of social boundaries,
such as education or economic status
•
People are able to decode things about another person when they
hear them speak
○
Great Britain displays quite an array of ways of speaking English
depending on one's background
•
People may often be identified by these regional dialects that
exist in may languages
○
Many languages also feature regional dialects that indicate geographic
differences
•
Pidgin and Creole languages are unique forms of language that
arise out of necessity often in the context of trade and colonialism
○
They are generally hybrid languages made up of bits and pieces
of other languages
○
In a country like Papua New Guinea (that has over 600
languages) it makes sense to have the official language Tok Pisin
(talk pidgin) serve as a way to communicate across such diversity
○
Colonialism in particular has increased the existence of regional
dialects of many European languages
•
The role of gender and language is also of social significance
•
Sociolinguistics
Language & Communication
Monday,)January)29,)2018
7:53)PM
Outline the component elements that make up language (such as
phonemes, syntax and grammar)
1.
Describe how human language works as a gesture-call system2.
Discuss and evaluate some of the theories regarding the relationship
between language and though
3.
Explain the meaning of language families and the relevance of
historical linguistics
4.
Be able to illustrate how language is a form of symbolic
communication
5.
Describe how linguistics are able to transcribe the vocabulary and
structure of any spoken language
6.
Be able to relate how different languages are interconnected to each
other in language families
7.
Learning Outcomes:
Chapter 4 (pages 73-94)
What makes human communication unique is its symbolic nature
○
Human beings are not the only living creatures capable of some form of
communication
•
Language in an inherent part of culture as it is the primary means by
which we transmit culture
•
Many languages are disappearing as globalization and mobility
alter social circumstances
○
Not long ago there were around 6000 human languages in use to
varying numbers of people
•
It also includes such non-verbal behaviour like body language,
posture, or non-verbal languages such as sign languages used by
the deaf, the use of hand and smoke signals (among various
indigenous peoples), flag signals, and electronic systems
○
This is referred to as the Gesture-Call system
○
Human symbolic communication is much broader than the oral and
written languages
•
Introduction: The Nature of Human Language
There are many misconceptions or stereotypes about language
•
Others thought languages became simpler (with fewer
inflections) as a result of growing complexity in the divisions of
labour and specialized tasks
○
Neither of these positions are supported by empirical evidence
○
For a long time, many people thought that societies with simple social
structures had language with simpler grammatical structure or with
fewer phonemes and smaller vocabularies
•
The anthropological view is that this is not the case
○
Another common stereotype is that some languages were better or pure
puse than others
•
However, the criteria for any form of ranking of languages are
political, not linguistic
○
Some languages are associated with more powerful groups, or have
become standardized as a result of universal education
•
Misconceptions about Language
*Read: Fundamentals of Linguistic Anthropology
http://anthrotheory.pbworks.com/w/page/29532388/Linguistic%
20Anthropology
Arbitrariness
1.
Displacement
2.
Productivity
3.
Duality of Patterning
4.
Whatever form it takes, human language always has the following four
characteristics:
•
All animals have communication systems, some of which are fairly
complex (especially in primates)
•
What makes human forms of communication unique is the presence of
all four of the characteristics
•
Characteristics of Language
We are all genetically programmed to talk but one will speak the
language they are taught growing up
○
Although all human beings have the capacity for learning some form of
language, the manner in which people speak (or communicate through
body language) has nothing to do with their biological or genetic make-
up
•
This is unlike some early systems of writing by pictographs with
fixed meanings denoted by pictures
○
The notion of arbitrariness (when applied to language) means that there
is no obvious, natural or necessary connection between the symbol (or
word) and what is symbolizes
•
Arbitrariness
This term refers to the ability to communicate across space and time
•
Animals can communicate among each other in order to warn of
impending danger, or the presence of food, based on what can be
perceived in the immediate environment
•
Our ability to use past and future tenses and to think abstractly allows
for displacement
•
The ability to convey information about the location of
nectar indicated displacement but not productivity
!
Ex. Honey bees have a form of communication, a circular dance
in to indicate to other bees where they can find nectar
○
Thus, some species may have a form of communication characterized
by displacement but not productivity
•
Displacement
Human language makes it possible to convey messages about many
different topics
•
The notion of semantic productivity in the language refers to our ability
to use language creatively "to generate an infinite number of sentences
according to a finite number of rules"
•
Semantic = meaning
•
Semantic Productivity
Refers to the use of contrasting sounds (based on the ability to
discriminate between a limited number of closely related sounds), as
the basis of the structure of language
•
Phones vs phonemes
○
Phonemes vs morephemes
○
Concept of allophones
○
This aspect of human communication is somewhat technical and
requires an understanding of such analytical distinctions
•
Language is more than just communication; it is a dynamic infinitely
creative extension of our consciousness
•
Duality of Patterning
There are many theories about how human language originated, but we
can only make intelligent guesses on the basis of indirect evidence
•
The imprints left by the convolutions of the brain on ancient skulls, and
the size of the frontal lobe (where the forehead is located) indicates that
the necessary intelligence required for language might have been
present as early as a million years ago (with Homo erectus)
•
Such artifacts as burial sites decorated with animal bones (which imply
a belief in the afterlife), the cave art in France and Spain of the upper
paleolithic (30,000 years ago) is so sophisticated that is seems likely
that language skills would also be developed
•
The development of symbolic communication must have been a crucial
component of the increasing reliance on culture as a more flexible form
of adaptation
•
Some linguists also argue that once stone tools became sufficiently
complex it would seem reasonable that those who made them possessed
language to pass on such complex technology
•
The adaptive aspects of language no doubt reinforced it among early
users as they would have a considerable advantage among their
competitors
•
The growth of the brain and the ever increasing use of language
enhanced our capacity for culture in fundamental ways
•
The Origins of Human Language
Components of Language
The units of sound (=phonemes) will alter the meaning of a
words as they are varied
○
The phonemes "b" and "p" change the meaning
!
Phonemes can be explained such as the contrast of the
pronunciation of the words Abit and Apit in English
○
A sound change in butter and budder illustrated that the "t" can
be changes to a "d" without a change in meaning, so these are not
phonemes
○
Phonemes often occur in minimal pairs
○
There are also pairs of consonant, intonation, stress, and
many sounds coming out of people's mouths which you
may have never heard
!
Phonemes do not consist only of vowels
○
Language selects only a limited number of many possible sounds or
phones as the basic building blocks for forming words
•
These are quite different words which happen to sound
exactly the same (and use exactly the same set of
phonemes)
!
Ex. "I" and "eye"
○
The starting consonants represent exactly the same
phoneme
!
Ex. "Night" and "Knife"
○
Two words or parts of words with exactly the same sounds (phonemes)
may be spelled in entirely different ways (or visa versa)
•
These words would be exactly the same in pronunciation except
for a single sound (or phone)
○
He or she must recognize the words are distinct or agree
that one of the words be a distinct word
!
Thus, an English speaker would not only recognize "bat"
and "vat" as different words, but would also accept "bap"
and "pap" as different words
!
It does not matter is the speaker thinks one of the founds was
pronounced funny
○
The Minimal Pair Test: in order to ascertain whether or not two
different phones serve as phonemes in a particular language, the
linguist presents a native speaker with what he believes are two
different words
•
Sounds: Phones and Phonemes
The contrast between phonetics (phones) and phonemics (phonemes)
is similar to the distinction between etic vs emic, that was originally
coined by a linguistic who extended these concepts to a broader range
of human cultural behaviour
•
It usually requires not only an outside observer, but sounds
equipment which can accurately record different sounds used in
human speech
○
In linguistics, phonetics (observer) is the objective recording of human
sounds as they are used in daily life
•
It is not sufficient to turn on the tape recorder and record the
sounds
○
One has to find out if the native speaker actually hears different
sounds and considers them to be distinctive or contrastive
○
In contrast, it is impossible to do a correct and accurate phonemic study
without taking into account whether or not the sounds made by the
speaker of a language are meaningful sounds
•
Phonetics vs. Phonemics: External vs. Internal
Linguists refer to words (including synonyms) as morphemes, which
are defined as the basic units to convey meaning
•
This morpheme is used to covey the idea of plurality
!
This morpheme is never used on its own, but has to be
added to a free standing morpheme (cat --> cats)
!
Ex. "…ss" (producing a hissing sounds)
○
Most morphemes are indeed simply words, but not all units of
meaning stand alone
•
In some cases, morphemes may even take the form of a change in
sound (ex. Run --> ran)
○
Morphemes which can stand on their own (real words) are known as
unbound morphemes, while those which are not are called bound
morphemes
•
Most unbound morphemes are made up of more than one
phoneme (ex. Dog = 3 phonemes)
○
Note: a morpheme consists of (or is expressed through) one or more
phonemes, which in term may or may not have variations (allophones),
which in term are still distinct sounds (phones)
•
The French language does not use stress to distinguish meaning
○
Contrasting stress is used in English to distinguish between words or
phrases which sound the same in every other way (ex. Light
housekeeper vs. lighthouse keeper)
•
Morphemes & Words: Morphemes vs. Phonemes
Historical Linguistics
Likewise, all three of these languages are more closely
related to each other than anyone one of them is to Punjabi,
although they are all derived from some common (and now
extinct) proto-language called Indo-European
!
Looking at the Indo European language chart, English is more
closely related to German than to French
○
All these languages are derived from Indo European's who spread
their culture far and wide
○
Linguistics systematically compare different languages by
examining slight shifts in the sound structure of words with
similar meaning
○
There are at least 30 language families, groups of languages that share a
common history that may be found through comparison of vocabulary
and syntactic structure
•
This statistical method is used to infer the probable dates when
various members of a language family separated from one
another or from their parent language
○
This is the heart of historical linguistics
○
A statistic comparison of such selected vocabulary items is called
glottochronology (glotto=tongue, chronos = time)
•
Such variation would also have existed in the case of now-extinct
languages (like Latin)
○
Another way of looking at the relationship between different
language is the concept of a language continuum
○
However, the notion of different languages in somewhat misleading,
since all languages have variations or dialects associated with different
sub-groups, classes, or regions
•
Language Families and Subgroups
http://www.danshort.com/ie/iecentum.htm
•
Indo European Languages
Anthropologists, linguists and psychologists have had many debates
about the way human language affects the way people think and even
how they perceive the world around them
•
A classic theory of linguistics is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which
states that the syntax, or grammatical structure, of a language has a
profound influence on the way people perceive, and even experience,
the world
•
This is the more philosophical aspect of linguistics
•
Also consider the relationship between how people make a living
and language -we think about and name the things we value
○
They noted that the Hopi in the US southwest has no terms to express
past and future directly and indeed had a life style focused in the
present
•
Language, Thought & Perception
Sociolinguistics refers to the study of language in its social context
•
Things like social dialects indicate the existence of social boundaries,
such as education or economic status
•
People are able to decode things about another person when they
hear them speak
○
Great Britain displays quite an array of ways of speaking English
depending on one's background
•
People may often be identified by these regional dialects that
exist in may languages
○
Many languages also feature regional dialects that indicate geographic
differences
•
Pidgin and Creole languages are unique forms of language that
arise out of necessity often in the context of trade and colonialism
○
They are generally hybrid languages made up of bits and pieces
of other languages
○
In a country like Papua New Guinea (that has over 600
languages) it makes sense to have the official language Tok Pisin
(talk pidgin) serve as a way to communicate across such diversity
○
Colonialism in particular has increased the existence of regional
dialects of many European languages
•
The role of gender and language is also of social significance
•
Sociolinguistics
Language & Communication
Monday,)January)29,)2018 7:53)PM
Outline the component elements that make up language (such as
phonemes, syntax and grammar)
1.
Describe how human language works as a gesture-call system2.
Discuss and evaluate some of the theories regarding the relationship
between language and though
3.
Explain the meaning of language families and the relevance of
historical linguistics
4.
Be able to illustrate how language is a form of symbolic
communication
5.
Describe how linguistics are able to transcribe the vocabulary and
structure of any spoken language
6.
Be able to relate how different languages are interconnected to each
other in language families
7.
Learning Outcomes:
Chapter 4 (pages 73-94)
What makes human communication unique is its symbolic nature
○
Human beings are not the only living creatures capable of some form of
communication
•
Language in an inherent part of culture as it is the primary means by
which we transmit culture
•
Many languages are disappearing as globalization and mobility
alter social circumstances
○
Not long ago there were around 6000 human languages in use to
varying numbers of people
•
It also includes such non-verbal behaviour like body language,
posture, or non-verbal languages such as sign languages used by
the deaf, the use of hand and smoke signals (among various
indigenous peoples), flag signals, and electronic systems
○
This is referred to as the Gesture-Call system
○
Human symbolic communication is much broader than the oral and
written languages
•
Introduction: The Nature of Human Language
There are many misconceptions or stereotypes about language
•
Others thought languages became simpler (with fewer
inflections) as a result of growing complexity in the divisions of
labour and specialized tasks
○
Neither of these positions are supported by empirical evidence
○
For a long time, many people thought that societies with simple social
structures had language with simpler grammatical structure or with
fewer phonemes and smaller vocabularies
•
The anthropological view is that this is not the case
○
Another common stereotype is that some languages were better or pure
puse than others
•
However, the criteria for any form of ranking of languages are
political, not linguistic
○
Some languages are associated with more powerful groups, or have
become standardized as a result of universal education
•
Misconceptions about Language
*Read: Fundamentals of Linguistic Anthropology
http://anthrotheory.pbworks.com/w/page/29532388/Linguistic%
20Anthropology
Arbitrariness1.
Displacement2.
Productivity3.
Duality of Patterning4.
Whatever form it takes, human language always has the following four
characteristics:
•
All animals have communication systems, some of which are fairly
complex (especially in primates)
•
What makes human forms of communication unique is the presence of
all four of the characteristics
•
Characteristics of Language
We are all genetically programmed to talk but one will speak the
language they are taught growing up
○
Although all human beings have the capacity for learning some form of
language, the manner in which people speak (or communicate through
body language) has nothing to do with their biological or genetic make-
up
•
This is unlike some early systems of writing by pictographs with
fixed meanings denoted by pictures
○
The notion of arbitrariness (when applied to language) means that there
is no obvious, natural or necessary connection between the symbol (or
word) and what is symbolizes
•
Arbitrariness
This term refers to the ability to communicate across space and time
•
Animals can communicate among each other in order to warn of
impending danger, or the presence of food, based on what can be
perceived in the immediate environment
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Our ability to use past and future tenses and to think abstractly allows
for displacement
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The ability to convey information about the location of
nectar indicated displacement but not productivity
!
Ex. Honey bees have a form of communication, a circular dance
in to indicate to other bees where they can find nectar
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Thus, some species may have a form of communication characterized
by displacement but not productivity
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Displacement
Human language makes it possible to convey messages about many
different topics
•
The notion of semantic productivity in the language refers to our ability
to use language creatively "to generate an infinite number of sentences
according to a finite number of rules"
•
Semantic = meaning
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Semantic Productivity
Refers to the use of contrasting sounds (based on the ability to
discriminate between a limited number of closely related sounds), as
the basis of the structure of language
•
Phones vs phonemes
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Phonemes vs morephemes
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Concept of allophones
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This aspect of human communication is somewhat technical and
requires an understanding of such analytical distinctions
•
Language is more than just communication; it is a dynamic infinitely
creative extension of our consciousness
•
Duality of Patterning
There are many theories about how human language originated, but we
can only make intelligent guesses on the basis of indirect evidence
•
The imprints left by the convolutions of the brain on ancient skulls, and
the size of the frontal lobe (where the forehead is located) indicates that
the necessary intelligence required for language might have been
present as early as a million years ago (with Homo erectus)
•
Such artifacts as burial sites decorated with animal bones (which imply
a belief in the afterlife), the cave art in France and Spain of the upper
paleolithic (30,000 years ago) is so sophisticated that is seems likely
that language skills would also be developed
•
The development of symbolic communication must have been a crucial
component of the increasing reliance on culture as a more flexible form
of adaptation
•
Some linguists also argue that once stone tools became sufficiently
complex it would seem reasonable that those who made them possessed
language to pass on such complex technology
•
The adaptive aspects of language no doubt reinforced it among early
users as they would have a considerable advantage among their
competitors
•
The growth of the brain and the ever increasing use of language
enhanced our capacity for culture in fundamental ways
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The Origins of Human Language
Components of Language
The units of sound (=phonemes) will alter the meaning of a
words as they are varied
○
The phonemes "b" and "p" change the meaning
!
Phonemes can be explained such as the contrast of the
pronunciation of the words Abit and Apit in English
○
A sound change in butter and budder illustrated that the "t" can
be changes to a "d" without a change in meaning, so these are not
phonemes
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Phonemes often occur in minimal pairs
○
There are also pairs of consonant, intonation, stress, and
many sounds coming out of people's mouths which you
may have never heard
!
Phonemes do not consist only of vowels
○
Language selects only a limited number of many possible sounds or
phones as the basic building blocks for forming words
•
These are quite different words which happen to sound
exactly the same (and use exactly the same set of
phonemes)
!
Ex. "I" and "eye"
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The starting consonants represent exactly the same
phoneme
!
Ex. "Night" and "Knife"
○
Two words or parts of words with exactly the same sounds (phonemes)
may be spelled in entirely different ways (or visa versa)
•
These words would be exactly the same in pronunciation except
for a single sound (or phone)
○
He or she must recognize the words are distinct or agree
that one of the words be a distinct word
!
Thus, an English speaker would not only recognize "bat"
and "vat" as different words, but would also accept "bap"
and "pap" as different words
!
It does not matter is the speaker thinks one of the founds was
pronounced funny
○
The Minimal Pair Test: in order to ascertain whether or not two
different phones serve as phonemes in a particular language, the
linguist presents a native speaker with what he believes are two
different words
•
Sounds: Phones and Phonemes
The contrast between phonetics (phones) and phonemics (phonemes)
is similar to the distinction between etic vs emic, that was originally
coined by a linguistic who extended these concepts to a broader range
of human cultural behaviour
•
It usually requires not only an outside observer, but sounds
equipment which can accurately record different sounds used in
human speech
○
In linguistics, phonetics (observer) is the objective recording of human
sounds as they are used in daily life
•
It is not sufficient to turn on the tape recorder and record the
sounds
○
One has to find out if the native speaker actually hears different
sounds and considers them to be distinctive or contrastive
○
In contrast, it is impossible to do a correct and accurate phonemic study
without taking into account whether or not the sounds made by the
speaker of a language are meaningful sounds
•
Phonetics vs. Phonemics: External vs. Internal
Linguists refer to words (including synonyms) as morphemes, which
are defined as the basic units to convey meaning
•
This morpheme is used to covey the idea of plurality
!
This morpheme is never used on its own, but has to be
added to a free standing morpheme (cat --> cats)
!
Ex. "…ss" (producing a hissing sounds)
○
Most morphemes are indeed simply words, but not all units of
meaning stand alone
•
In some cases, morphemes may even take the form of a change in
sound (ex. Run --> ran)
○
Morphemes which can stand on their own (real words) are known as
unbound morphemes, while those which are not are called bound
morphemes
•
Most unbound morphemes are made up of more than one
phoneme (ex. Dog = 3 phonemes)
○
Note: a morpheme consists of (or is expressed through) one or more
phonemes, which in term may or may not have variations (allophones),
which in term are still distinct sounds (phones)
•
The French language does not use stress to distinguish meaning
○
Contrasting stress is used in English to distinguish between words or
phrases which sound the same in every other way (ex. Light
housekeeper vs. lighthouse keeper)
•
Morphemes & Words: Morphemes vs. Phonemes
Historical Linguistics
Likewise, all three of these languages are more closely
related to each other than anyone one of them is to Punjabi,
although they are all derived from some common (and now
extinct) proto-language called Indo-European
!
Looking at the Indo European language chart, English is more
closely related to German than to French
○
All these languages are derived from Indo European's who spread
their culture far and wide
○
Linguistics systematically compare different languages by
examining slight shifts in the sound structure of words with
similar meaning
○
There are at least 30 language families, groups of languages that share a
common history that may be found through comparison of vocabulary
and syntactic structure
•
This statistical method is used to infer the probable dates when
various members of a language family separated from one
another or from their parent language
○
This is the heart of historical linguistics
○
A statistic comparison of such selected vocabulary items is called
glottochronology (glotto=tongue, chronos = time)
•
Such variation would also have existed in the case of now-extinct
languages (like Latin)
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Another way of looking at the relationship between different
language is the concept of a language continuum
○
However, the notion of different languages in somewhat misleading,
since all languages have variations or dialects associated with different
sub-groups, classes, or regions
•
Language Families and Subgroups
http://www.danshort.com/ie/iecentum.htm
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Indo European Languages
Anthropologists, linguists and psychologists have had many debates
about the way human language affects the way people think and even
how they perceive the world around them
•
A classic theory of linguistics is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which
states that the syntax, or grammatical structure, of a language has a
profound influence on the way people perceive, and even experience,
the world
•
This is the more philosophical aspect of linguistics
•
Also consider the relationship between how people make a living
and language -we think about and name the things we value
○
They noted that the Hopi in the US southwest has no terms to express
past and future directly and indeed had a life style focused in the
present
•
Language, Thought & Perception
Sociolinguistics refers to the study of language in its social context
•
Things like social dialects indicate the existence of social boundaries,
such as education or economic status
•
People are able to decode things about another person when they
hear them speak
○
Great Britain displays quite an array of ways of speaking English
depending on one's background
•
People may often be identified by these regional dialects that
exist in may languages
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Many languages also feature regional dialects that indicate geographic
differences
•
Pidgin and Creole languages are unique forms of language that
arise out of necessity often in the context of trade and colonialism
○
They are generally hybrid languages made up of bits and pieces
of other languages
○
In a country like Papua New Guinea (that has over 600
languages) it makes sense to have the official language Tok Pisin
(talk pidgin) serve as a way to communicate across such diversity
○
Colonialism in particular has increased the existence of regional
dialects of many European languages
•
The role of gender and language is also of social significance
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Sociolinguistics
Language & Communication
Monday,)January)29,)2018 7:53)PM
Document Summary
Outline the component elements that make up language (such as phonemes, syntax and grammar) Describe how human language works as a gesture-call system. Discuss and evaluate some of the theories regarding the relationship between language and though. Explain the meaning of language families and the relevance of historical linguistics. Be able to illustrate how language is a form of symbolic communication. Describe how linguistics are able to transcribe the vocabulary and structure of any spoken language. Be able to relate how different languages are interconnected to each other in language families. Human beings are not the only living creatures capable of some form of communication. What makes human communication unique is its symbolic nature. Language in an inherent part of culture as it is the primary means by which we transmit culture. Not long ago there were around 6000 human languages in use to varying numbers of people. Many languages are disappearing as globalization and mobility alter social circumstances.