Linguistics
The
systematic or scientific inquiry into human language – into its structures and
uses and the relationship between them, as well as into the development and
acquisition of language.
An arbitrary
vocal system used by human beings to communicate with one another. (It is also
written and signed.)
What do you know when you
know a language?
·
How
to articulate the sounds—Phonetics
·
How
the sounds can change in combinations—Phonology
·
How
to form words—Morphology
·
How
to form sentences—Syntax
·
How
to change form in different social settings
·
Knowledge
of different varieties (regional, social etc.)
Language and Dialects
·
“A
language is a dialect with an army”
o The Romance Languages:
Spanish, French, Italian, etc
o The Chinese Dialects:
Mandarin, Cantonese
o Hindi (India) and Urdu
(Pakistan)
o Indigenous Dialects or
Languages?
·
All
dialects are equally “grammatical” from a linguistic point of view. There is no
basis for preferring one set of rules or grammatical competence over another.
·
Judgments
about dialects or languages such as “illogical, impure, decayed, bastardized”
often represent judgments of the speakers of the dialect.
o
e.g.
Matched Guise Tests
o
Bilingual
reads passage in 2 languages
o
Listeners
rate for:
|
§ level of education |
§ height |
|
§ likeability |
§ dependable or not |
|
§ intelligence |
§ ambitious or not |
|
§ friendliness |
§ respectable or not |
|
§ looks |
|
o
Canadian
study in Late 50’s
§ English listeners: English
better
§ French listeners: English
better
·
The
standard is not more grammatical or pure in any sense; it is picked as the
standard for political and social reasons.
·
Often
the regional and socio-economic variety spoken in large centers of commerce and
government. Historically, in the US it
is (arguably) upper middle class northeastern varieties.
·
The
standard variety can be a combination of several dialects/languages, e.g.
standard Mayan in Guatemala
·
The
standard variety is often the target for second language learning.
o Why do you think this is the
case?
Regional Dialects
|
British |
vs. |
American |
|
[a:] |
|
[æ] |
|
[t] |
|
“flapped [t]” |
|
deleted |
|
[r] |
|
in hospital |
|
in the hospital |
|
to university |
|
to the university |
|
next day |
|
the next day |
|
O U are ahead |
|
OU is a head |
|
Have you…? |
|
Do you have…? |
Lift
|
|
Elevator |
First Floor
|
|
Second Floor |
Telly
|
|
TV |
Torch
|
|
Flashlight |
Bonnet
|
|
Hood |
Boot
|
|
Trunk |
Biscuits
|
|
Cookies |
Petrol
|
|
Gas |
Lorry
|
|
Truck |
Tin
|
|
Can |
Interval
|
|
Intermission |
Queue
|
|
Line |
Way Out
|
|
Exit |
·
Yiddish
influenced English in NYC
o Yiddish borrowings: Schlep,
Schmuck, Nebbish
o Characteristic intonation
patterns
o Syntactic structures:
The book, I told you to read it.
·
African-American
English (AAE)
o Not all African-Americans
speak AAE
o Non-African-Americans speak
AAE
o Similarities to Southern
White English
o Different grammar than
standard English
|
AAE |
vs.
|
Standard
English |
|
That
my bike |
|
That’s
my bike |
|
The
coffee cold |
|
The
coffee’s cold |
|
The
coffee be cold |
|
The
coffee is (always) cold |
|
She
be talking |
|
She
(always) talks |
|
Emphatic
“come” |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It
is a Miss J. in the office |
|
There
is a … |
|
Multiple
negatives |
|
|
·
Post
vocalic ‘r’ in New York City
·
Post
vocalic ‘r’ in London
·
Tag
questions
·
Phonetic
variation
·
Lexical
differences
Pidginization occurs when different L1 groups develop a functionally reduced L2, based on limited access to a superstrate language, for certain restricted kind of referential inter-group communication.
e.g.
Japanese Portuguese, Chinese and Filipino workers developing and English-based
pidgin on the sugar plantations of Hawaii
Creolization occurs when a pidgin is
adopted as a native language and acquires a more extensive vocabulary and range
of use. The grammar becomes more complex over time
e.g.
French Creole in Haiti and English Creole in Jamaica. AAE has some Creole
influences. Indeed some people consider English a Creole.