Anthropology 1027A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Onomatopoeia, Universal Grammar, Noam Chomsky

• School: Western University
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: Anthropology 1027A/B
• Professor: Kinga Pozniak

Document Summary

Scientific study of language - how it works, how its used, how it changes over time. The sound system: which sound combinations are possible in english, blirk, czesc, kralt, ptak. How to create novel sentences: english has approx. 50 sounds: vocabulary is infinite, but the rules are finite. Analysis of rule system (grammar) - study grammar. Components of grammar: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics. Describe grammar as it is used - how language works in real life. Linguistic competence - what you know: ability to produce and understand an unlimited number of utterances. Linguistic performance - how you use this knowledge. Noam chomsky: the human brain contains an unlimited set of rules to understand language, all human languages have a common foundation; there is a structure that is followed within every langauge. Linguistics is the study of language as a system of rules and variations.