COLL-C 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Linguistic Prescription, Benjamin Lee Whorf, Franz Boas

• School: IU
• Department: College of Arts & Sciences
• Course: COLL-C 104
• Professor: Steven Franks

Document Summary

C104 lecture 2 notes- discussing pinker, whorf, and napoli. Wh(cid:455) does pi(cid:374)ke(cid:396) (cid:272)all la(cid:374)guage a(cid:374) (cid:862)i(cid:374)sti(cid:374)(cid:272)t(cid:863): even though we have to learn how to do it, we naturally start trying to speak (ie. baby babble) Fundamental facts: what is the sig(cid:374)ifi(cid:272)a(cid:374)(cid:272)e of the follo(cid:449)i(cid:374)g (cid:395)uote: (cid:862)(cid:448)i(cid:396)tuall(cid:455) e(cid:448)e(cid:396)(cid:455) se(cid:374)te(cid:374)(cid:272)e that a pe(cid:396)so(cid:374) utte(cid:396)s o(cid:396) understands is a brand-(cid:374)e(cid:449) (cid:272)o(cid:373)(cid:271)i(cid:374)atio(cid:374) of (cid:449)o(cid:396)ds(cid:863) Da(cid:396)(cid:449)i(cid:374): (cid:862)[language is] a(cid:374) i(cid:374)sti(cid:374)(cid:272)ti(cid:448)e te(cid:374)de(cid:374)(cid:272)(cid:455) to a(cid:272)(cid:395)ui(cid:396)e a(cid:374) a(cid:396)t(cid:863) (cid:894)p. 6-7) Cho(cid:373)sk(cid:455): (cid:862)wh(cid:455), the(cid:374), should (cid:449)e (cid:374)ot stud(cid:455) the a(cid:272)(cid:395)uisitio(cid:374) of la(cid:374)guage of a (cid:272)og(cid:374)iti(cid:448)e st(cid:396)u(cid:272)tu(cid:396)e su(cid:272)h as language more or less as we study some complex bodily orga(cid:374)? (cid:863) (cid:894)p. 9-10) Why study language: may discover abstract principles that govern its structure and use; they are universal by biological necessity, not just historical accident. Prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar: prescriptive grammar- socially constructed artifice set by language pedagogues attempting to establish norms and impose standards; arbitrary set of conventions about how people should speak.