LINA01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Palatine Uvula, International Phonetic Alphabet, Articulatory Phonetics
Document Summary
The underlying patterns of rules are not obvious. We have unconscious knowledge that we implicitly follow. Mental grammar - that is in our head - linguistic competence - our ability to speak the language. The model of the mental grammar is descriptive grammar. In linguistics we believe that no dialect is superior. Linguistics analyze the mental grammar in our head and builds a model in our head. In human language the relationship between sound and meaning is symbolic arbitrary system. Something can be defined as a sentence if it has the form of a sentence even if it does not make sense. Human language allows creativity - ability of humans to understand and create new sentences that we may never have heard before. We can create infinitely long sentences - productivity. Discrete combinatorial system - we can make many sentences but it has to follow the rules and has to be rules governed creativity.
