Linguistics
Linguistics
• Linguistics is the scientific study of language.
• Because of the variety of influences on
language, linguistics influences and is
influenced by a wide variety of disciplines.
What is Language?
• A system of communication using sounds or
symbols that enables us to express our
feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences
The Universality of Language
• Everyone with normal capacities develops a
language & follows its rules (more or less!)
– Language development is similar across cultures –
babbling at 7 months, a few meaningful words by 1st
Birthday, first multiword utterances occur about age 2
• Language is universal across cultures – there isn’t
a single culture without a language
– Languages are “unique but the same” – different
sounds/words/grammar, but they all have words that
are nouns & verbs, all languages include a system to
make things negative, ask questions, and refer to past
& present
What is Language?
•
We can create unique sentences because the
structure of language is
1. Hierarchical
•
Because it consists of a series of components that can be
combined to form larger units
2. Governed by rules
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Allow us to know the appropriate ways to organize statements
Grammar – a set of rules for the production and use of language
units
Grammar
• Descriptive rules – rules that show typical use
of a language
– Example: “To boldly go where no one has gone
before.”
• Prescriptive rules – rules that suggest how a
language should be used
– Example: “To go boldly where no one has gone
before.”
Psycholinguistics
•
•
The psychological study of language
Goals:
1. Competence (Comprehension) – how do we
understand?
2. Performance (Speech production) – how do we
produce language?
3. Acquisition – how do we learn language?
From Akmajian and Demers (2010) based on Chomsky (1972)
From Akmajian and Demers (2010) based on Chomsky (1972)
From Akmajian and Demers (2010) based on Chomsky (1972)
Pranks for Science!
• McGurk Effect (McGurk & McDonald, 1976)
• Speech perception is based on both visual and
auditory information.
• When visual and auditory information do not
match, phonemes may be perceived incorrectly.
– Example: Simultaneous visual presentation of the
syllable /ba/ and auditory presentation of the syllable
/ga/ will result in a perception of the syllable /da/
Pranks for Science!
• Garden-path sentences
– “The secretary applauded for his efforts was soon
promoted.”
– “Fat people eat accumulates.”
– “The horse raced past the barn fell.”
Pranks for Science!
• Garden-path sentences
– “Because he ran the second mile went quickly.”
Reinterpretation
Something wrong
First interpretation
AMBIGUITIES IN NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
(from The Telegraph Herald, Dubuque, Iowa, Nov 13, 1990)
NEW ENVIRONMENTAL CHIEF SETTLES IN WELL
(THE DAILY INDEPENDENT, ASHLAND, KENTUCKY)
LEXICAL AMBIGUITY
IS “WELL” A NOUN OR AN ADVERB?
POLICE NAB STUDENTS WITH PAIR OF PLIERS
(JOURNAL AND COURIER, LAFAYETTE, INDIANA)
SURFACE AMBIGUITY
DID THE POLICE OR THE STUDENTS HAVE THE
PLIERS?
RALPH STEINER DEAD; A STILL PHOTOGRAPHER
(THE NEW YORK TIMES)
LEXICAL AMBIGUITY
“STILL” MAY REFER TO PHOTOGRAPHY OR DEATH
A few more examples...
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EYE DROPS OFF SHELF
KIDS MAKE NUTRITIOUS SNACKS
STOLEN PAINTING FOUND BY TREE
DEALERS WILL HEAR CAR TALK AT NOON
MINERS REFUSE TO WORK AFTER DEATH
MILK DRINKERS ARE TURNING TO POWDER
COMPLAINTS ABOUT NBA REFEREES GROWING UGLY
POLICE BEGIN CAMPAIGN TO RUN DOWN JAYWALKERS
GRANDMOTHER OF EIGHT MAKES HOLE IN ONE
HOSPITALS ARE SUED BY 7 FOOT DOCTORS
ENRAGED COW INJURES FARMER WITH AX
SQUAD HELPS DOG BITE VICTIM
HERSHEY BARS PROTEST
Semiotics
Semiotics for Saussure
• Semiotics – study of signs
• Signs – made up of signifier and signified
– Signifier – sound-image (it’s the impression a
person gets from an object – in our language
system a person knows how it sounds)
– Signified – the concept that comes to mind
• Signs are arbitrary
Adapting Saussure
His theories have been adapted more generally as the
relationship between material objects and meaning – not
so linguistic or focused on words and mental impressions.
Sign
– Signifier – the material part (form of expression)
– Signified – the concept or meaning (form of content)
• M - mmmmmm
• Moose -
Interpreting Signs Denotation &
Connotation
• Denotation - literal and detailed description of
a meaning of a word or object.
• Connotation - cultural meanings and myths
connected to words and things.
Interpreting Signs Denotation &
Connotation
More Denotation and Connotation
Three big terms: Metaphor,
Metonymy, & Synecdoche
• Synecdoche – when a part represents a whole
or a whole represents a part.
– McDaniel won the football game.
– The police thought tasing a five year old was a
good idea.
– Women are smarter than men.
Synecdoche is visual and pranky
Metonymy
• Metonymy – communicates through
association. Substitutes or allows one thing to
stand for another.
– He got a pink slip and was really depressed.
– The material girl is going to release another
album.
– You just can’t fight city hall.
Metonymy is visual
• Metonymy – communicates through
association. Substitutes or allows one thing to
stand for another.
Metaphor
• Metaphor - helps us understand what
something is by comparing it to something
else. It is a way of conceiving of one thing in
terms of another for understanding.
– The internet is a web.
– Love is a game.
– School is jail.
Semiotic Perspective of Language and
Speech and Disciplines
• Language – a social institution that expresses
ideas by using signs, whose meanings are
based on convention (Berger 21)
• Speech – the ways that individuals use a
language (Berger 20)
Language and Speech in Football
Language
Speech
Social institution
Personal choices
All teams available
Who a person cheers for
Dialects
Defense/Offense/Special Teams and
all the plays they may have
Sentence
The choice of a play (Hail Mary or
Cover 2)
Grammar
What combinations you can put
together on the field, rulebook,
rules for combining players.
Dictionaries
Playbooks
Language and Speech in Rhetoric
Language
Speech
Social institution
Personal choices
All theories available in rhetoric
What theories a person selects to
use
Dialects
Aristotilean, Platonic, Burkean,
Weaverian
Sentence
An article/essay on rhetoric
Grammar
Rules for combining dialects. Rules
for citation. Rules for tone and
formality.
Dictionaries
MLA handbook, Rhetoric for
Dummies, Wikipedia