Final Exam

What is Linguistics?

It's the scientific study of language and its structure. It explores how languages are structured, how they function, and how they are acquired, used, and understood by individuals and communities.

What are levels of linguistic analysis?

- phonological (sound system) - morphological (words, word-formation processes) - syntactic (structure and grammar) - semantic (meanings of words) - pragmatic (hidden meaning of words) - discourse (sentence, text)

Sources of human language.

We don't know how language originated. We suspect that some type of spoken language developed about 150 000 years ago. Written language developed about 6 000 years ago. There's no evidence or artifacts relating to speech of our distant ancestors.

The divine source.

According to this view, language comes from the God. In some religions people believe that God provided human language. There was a hypothesis that if a child was separated from language it would start speaking a God given language.

Yo-heave-ho theory

A group of humans developed a set of grunts, groans and swear words which they used when lifting or carrying heavy objects.

Natural sound theory.

Also called Bow-Wow theory from which supposedly come words echoing natural sounds (onomatopoeia). Primitive words could have been imitations of the natural sounds which early people heard around them.

Oral gesture theory.

At first a set of gestures was developed as means of communication. It was followed by a set of oral gestures involving the mouth tongue and lips. Piaget called this "a specialized pantonime of the tongue and lips".

The physical adaptation source.

Particular physiological features developed to make language development possible. It focuses on biological bases of the formation of human language.

organs of articulation

Vocal organs different than those of apes - teeth - Upright - lips - More flexible - mouth - Small with a flexible tongue - larynx - Upward posture moved the head forward and the larynx lower - lateralized brain - specialized functions in two hemispheres

Innateness hypothesis.

Seems to point to something in human genetics, possibly a crucial mutation, as the source. The investigation of the origins then turns into a search for the special "language gene" that only humans possess.

language gene

Called FOXP2, was identified through studies of a severe speech and language disorder that affects almost half the members of a large family identified as "KE".

Properties of human language.

-Displacement -Productivity -Arbitrariness -Cultural transmission -Duality -Discreteness -Vocal auditory channel -Reciprocity -Specialisation -Non directionality -Rapid fade

Displacement

It allows language users to talk about things and events not present in the immediate environment. Animal communication is generally considered to lack this property. (talking about fairies, hell, angels etc.)

productivity

Humans are continually creating new expressions and novel utterances by manipulating their linguistic resources to describe new objects and situations. The potential number of utterances in any human language is infinite. (new words such as aspirin etc.)

arbitrariness

There's generally no natural connection between a linguistic form and its meaning. The connection is quite arbitrary. We cant look at the arabic word and from it's shape for example determine that it has a natural and obvious meaning.

cultural transmission

We don't inherit a language, it is transmitted to us from one generation to another.

duality

Language is organized at two levels simultaneously. Level 1 are sounds which are meaningless. Level 2 are combinations of sounds which create meaningful words "e, t, p; pet". Woth limited set of sounds we are able to create unlimited number of words.

discreteness

The sounds used in a language are meaningfully distinct. One sound changes the meaning: sheep/ship; bad/bat; bark/park etc.

vocal auditory channel

Communication is generated via vocal organs and perceived via the ears. Language can be transmitted without the sound via writing or via sign language of the deaf.

reciprocity

Any speaker/sender of a message can be a listener/receiver.

non-directionality

Signals can be detected by anyone.

rapid fade

Signals are produced and disappear quickly.

How is human language different from animal communication?

Human language is distinct from all other known animal forms of communication in being compositional. Human language allows speakers to express thoughts in sentences comprising subjects, verbs and objects and recognizing past, present and future tenses.

When did people start to write? Do all languages have written form?

The development of writing is relatively new phenomenon, human attempts to write trace back to at least 20 000 ya (cave drawings). Writing - 6 000 yo. Writings based on alphabetical script - 3 000 ya. Many languages do not have their written form.

What are the oldest forms of writing?

-Pictograms -ideograms -logograms -rebus writing -syllabic writing -alphabetic writing

pictograms

Are pictures which represent particular images in a consistent way. Picture writing. A conventional relationship must exist between the symbol and its interpretation. Modern pictogram is for example toilet symbol used for signage in public places.

ideograms

In time, the picture might take on a more symbolic role, such as "o" which means: sun, heat. Ideograms are more abstract. Many pictograms and ideograms developed into writing systems. Modern ideograms: emojis like lightbulb symbol which expresses an idea.

logograms

Symbols that represent words in language. An example is Sumerian cuneiform writing (wedge shaped). Modern logograms are Chinese characters which represent words. (developed 5000 - 6000 ya)

rebus writing

Symbols represent sounds of language. The symbol for one entity is taken over as the symbol for another entity. "I"="eye". def 👁️

syllabic writing

A symbol is used for a syllable. Typical of Phoenicians 3 000 - 4 000 years ago. Many symbols were taken from egyptian hieroglyphs. Modern syllabic example is Japanese language.

alphabetic writing

About 3 000 years ago. A letter represents a sound. An alphabet is a set of written symbols. It started with Semitic languages such as Arabic and Hebrew. The early Greeks added symbols to represent vowels.

What sort of writing do we use?

We use alphabetic writing. In Poland it is a Latin alphabet with additional characters.

phonology

Description in form of a systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language.

phonetics

The general study of speech sounds. Divided into articulatory, acoustic, auditory and forensic phonetics, how the speech sounds are made or articulated, properties of speech as the sound waves, perception of speech and identification basis pronunciation.

phonotactics

Acceptable phonological forms. Patterns of the sound combinations permitted in a language (fig, big, lig). It is a speakers knowledge of what's possible in the language.

What's morphology?

It's investigation of forms of language.

What is morpheme?

-s, -er, -ed, -ing all these elements are considered morphemes. It is a minimal unit of meaning or grammatical function.

Free morphemes

Can stand by themselves as single words e.g. "open" (lexical and functional)

Lexical

nouns, verbs, adjectives

functional

articles, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions

bound morphemes

can't stand alone, but are typically attached to another form. (derivational, inflectional)

derivational

Used to make words of different grammatical category (friend; friend-ly; un-friendly)

inflectional

not used to produced new words but to indicate aspects of the grammatical function of a word (John(s), loud(est)).

Coinage

invention of totally new items e.g. trade names for company, product which became general term: nylon, aspirin, teflon, zipper

Borrowing

taking words from other languages: alcohol (Arabic), boss (Dutch), croissant (French), robot (Czech), tycoon (Japan)

Loan translation

a direct translation: bofriend from japanese boyifriendo, Adam's apple from French pomme d'Adam, beer garden from German Biergarten

compounding

joining two separate words to produce a single form: "fingerprint", "sunburn", "afternoon"

blending

joining two words typically only by taking the beginning of one word: "smog + fog = smog", motor + hotel = motel, clap + crash = clash

clipping

when a word of more than one syllable is reduced to short form: gasoline - gas, advertisement - ad, motorbike - bike, in polish: komputer - komp

backformation

when a word of one type is reduced to form another word of different type: " emotion - emote", donation - donate, option - opt

Hypocorism

a longer word reduced to a single syllable, then -y or -ie is added: dog - doggie, chocolate - chokie, grandmother - granny

conversion

noun used as verb or vice versa: paper - to paper walls, vacation - they are vacationing in spain, bottle - to bottle, fool - to fool

acronym

formed from initial letters of words: CD (compact disc), LCD (liquid crystal display), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

derivation

most common process, accomplished by adding small "bits" to words: assert - assertive, personal - personally, write - writer

Words borrowed from other languages

-Ketchup (Chinese), Karaoke (Japanese), Chess (Persian), Check (Persian), Checkmate (Persian), Lemon (Arabic)

What is grammar?

A way of describing the structure of phrases and sentences which account for all the grammatical sequences and rules out of all the ungrammatical sequences.

Approaches to grammar

Prescriptive: A view of grammar as a set of rules for the "proper" use of a language. Rules of grammar: how it should be used. Descriptive: An attempt to describe the regular structures of the language as it is used. The real usage: how it is used.

What is Syntax?

It's the structure and the ordering of components within a sentence.

What is structural analysis of a sentence?

The technique employed in this approach shows how small components in sentences go together to form larger constituents. We label all elements exposing the hierarchical structure of the constituents.

Deep and surface structure

"Charlie broke the window" and "The window was broken by Charlie" - there is a difference in the surface structure, but the sentences are closely related in the underlaying level - deep structure.

deep and surface structure 2

"Ann whacked a man with an umbrella" - can be interpreted either as "Ann had an umbrella and she whacked a man with it" or "Ann whacked a man that had an umbrella" Hence, this sentence is ambiguous it has 2 different interpretations in the deep structure.

What is Semantics?

Semantics - the study of meaning. Focuses on what the words conventionally mean, rather than what a speaker might want the words to mean. The literal/conceptual meaning.

Semantic features

"hamburger ate the man" is syntactically well formed sentence, but it is semantically odd. oddness comes from the conceptual meaning of the nouns in this sentence. We may determine what a crucial component of meaning it must have: -animate -human -male

Semantic roles

Words can play certain roles within a situation described by a sentence. -agent -patient -theme -location -experiencer -instrument -goal -source

agent

the entity that performs the action

patient

the entity that undergoes the action

theme

the entity that undergoes the action

location

the place where action is happening

experiencer

the entity that experiences the action

instrument

means used to perform some action

goal

entity representing the destination of some other entity

source

entity from which something moves

lexical relations between words

synonyms, antonyms, hyponymy, prototype, homophony, homonymy, polysemy, metonymy, collocations

synonyms

two or more forms with closely related meaning: broad - wide, ability - capability, angry - furious

antonyms

forms with opposite meaning: quick - slow, dead - alive, on - off, hot - cold

hyponymy

when the meaning of one word is involved in another word: animal - dog - poodle, bake - boil - grill, glance - peer - stare, animal - bird - sparrow, plant - flower - rose

prototype

cognitive reference point of a category or a word: bird - robin, flower - rose, furniture - table, fruit - apple

homophony

the same pronunciation but different meaning and spelling: bare - bear, cell - sell, die - dye, heal - heel

homonymy

one form has two unrelated meanings: bat - sport equipment or an animal, lie - something that's not true or a resting position, bank - river or an institution

polysemy

one form that has multiple meanings which are related: bright - shining or intelligent, head - body or top of company, get - procure or understand

metonymy

connections between words based on various relations: container - content (bottle - coke), whole - part (car - wheels), symbol (king - crown)

collocations

words frequently occuring together: butter and bread, salt and pepper, husband and wife, bed and breakfast

pragmatics

The study of intended speaker meaning. When we hear or read some language we try to understand not only what the words mean, but also what a person intended to say.

context

it is of crucial importance in analyzing the meanings of words.

deixis

same words in a language cannot be interpreted unless the physical context of a speaker is known e.g. here, there, I, them etc.

reference

an act by which speaker is able to identify something

anaphora

a subsequent reference to an already mentioned entity (reffering)

presupposition

an assumption made by the speaker or the listener: "where's the book" - it was on a table, "me and my wife decided" - he is married

speech acts

acts performed by a speaker for example: questioning, commanding, requesting. They can have various forms: imperative, affirmative, interrogative, can be direct or indirect. Direct - "Where's my wallet?" Indirect - "Could you tell me..."

politeness

your public self image.

face threatening acts

saying something that is a threat to another person "sit down"

face saving acts

saying something politely "will you sit down please"

discourse

Discourse refers to the communication and exchange of ideas, opinions, and information between individuals or groups. It can occur in various forms such as spoken language, written text or online interactions.

discourse analysis

is a multidisciplinary approach used to study language in its social context. It examines how language is used to construct meaning, shape social interactions, and reflect power dynamics within a given discourse or communication setting.

cohesion

A certain structure of a text. These are the ties and connections (cohesive links) which exist within text (he, then, here, it). All the words are used to maintain reference to people and things.

coherence

The way we make sense of what we hear or read. It is significant in interpretation of casual conversation. Not everything is said directly. We make guesses, anticipate what will be said and infer meaning using our intelligence.

difference between cohesion and coherence

Cohesion is achieved when sentences are connected at the sentence level, whereas as coherence is achieved when ideas are connected.

speech event

By speech events we understand e.g. a debate, an interview or a discussion. Many things are taken into consideration: the roles of the people, relationship, topic, situation etc.

conversational interaction

It's an activity where two or more people takes turns speaking. Participants wait until one speaker indicates that he has finished speaking by completion point. Other participants may indicate that they want to speak by making short sounds, raisin hand...

schemata

a conventional knowledge structure which exists in memory

script

a dynamic schemata in which a series of conventional actions take place, e.g. "going to the dentist", "buying a plane ticket"

scripts in conversation

scripts provide a shared understanding of how an interaction should unfold. They establish a set of expectations regarding turn-taking, topics of discussion, and appropriate responses.

schemata in conversation

schemata help us interpret and comprehend the content being discussed. When we encounter a familiar topic, our schema for that topic is activated, and we can quickly make connections, generate relevant responses, and understand the underlying meaning.

What language family does english and polish belong to?

Both belong to Indo - European family. English is germanic language, while Polish is slavic language.