INTRODUCTION
TO LINGUISTICS
LI 2013
NATHALIE F. MARTIN
 What you should know:
LANGUAGE: AN
INTRODUCTION
(chap. 1, O’Grady)



How humans are made to speak
What is language
Linguistic competence vs.
performance

Descriptive vs. Prescriptive approach to
language

Grammar:
 Generality,
parity, universality,
mutability, inaccessibility
LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION
Fill in the Blanks
Communication Process (Jakobson)
COMMUNICATION – Discussion
 WHO/WHAT CAN COMMUNICATE?
 WHAT DOES ONE (HUMAN OR NON
HUMAN) NEED TO BE ABLE TO
COMMUNICATE?
 WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
 DO ANIMALS HAVE LANGUAGE ABILITIES?
Communication
 Communication is a behaviour, or the
transmission of information, that affects the
behaviour of others.
 When a living organism (or machine)
communicates it sends messages about itself or its
environment.
 The message is placed into a code.

Humans have a highly elaborate code called language.
Language, Dialect, Pidgin or Creole?
1. Language:
2. Dialect:
3. Variety:
4. Pidgin:
5. Creole:
a. intergroup communication
b. characterized by it’s own
phonological, syntactic, or
lexical properties
c. A code or system used by
consensus.
d. native language deroved
from a pidgin.
e. A regional or social
variety of a language.
DIALECTS - Define
 Dialect:
A
regional or social variety of a language
characterized by it’s own phonological, syntactic,
or lexical properties.

We will use the term « Variety » in this class
instead of speaking of dialects.
PIDGIN - Define
 Pidgin:
A variety that emerges when speakers of a
different language are brought together in a stable
situation requiring intergroup communication;
it has no native speakers and generally is
considered to have a reduced grammatical
system.
Ex: Blood Diamond (Leonardo Dicaprio)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP5ILgKxapI&feature=related
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04QTfxGMe_Y
CREOLE - Define
 Creole:
A variety that arises as the native language of
the children of members of a pidgin speech
community.
Language, Dialect, Pidgin or Creole?
1. Language:
2. Dialect:
3. Variety:
4. Pidgin:
5. Creole:
a. Trade language
b. Chiac
c. Swahili
d. Hatian
e. African American
Vernacular English
GRAMMAR
Language According to Linguists - Discussion
EXPLAIN A LINGUISTS’ VIEW
OF LANGUAGE AND
GRAMMAR.
Linguistic Competence Vs Performance
 Linguistic
Competence:
What you
know about a
language.
Contemporary
Linguistics
Analysis: p. 5.
 Linguistic
Performance:
How you use this
knowledge in
actual speech
production and
comprehension.
Prescriptive or Descriptive Grammar
In Chiac French, the borrowed
English verb is always conjugated as
an “er” French verb.
2. In French negative sentences, we
should always have “ne” + the verb +
“pas” (ex: Elle ne veut pas)
3. In African American Vernacular
English, some speakers pronounce the
final sound of “sing” as an “n”.
4. Never say “ain’t”
1.
a. DESC.
b. PRESC
c. DESC.
d. PRESC.
Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Grammar
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN PRESCRIPTIVE
GRAMMAR AND DESCRIPTIVE
GRAMMAR?
GRAMMAR PRINCIPLES
 GENERALITY: ALL LANGUAGES HAVE A GRAMMAR
 PARITY: ALL GRAMMARS ARE EQUAL
 UNIVERSALITY: GRAMMARS ARE ALIKE IN BASIC WAYS
 MUTABILITY: GRAMMARS CHANGE OVER TIME
 INACCESSIBILITY: GRAMMATICAL KNOWLEDGE IS
SUBCONSCIOUS
Reference: Chapter 1 (O’Grady & Archibald)
The Truth About Grammar
Contemporary
Linguistics
Analysis: p. 5.
 Name all five characteristics of grammar
according to linguists.
Generality: All languages have a grammar
Parity: All grammars are equal
Universality: Grammars are alike in basic ways
Mutability: Grammars change over time
Inaccessibility: Grammatical knowledge is
subconscious
Associate
Generality:
Parity:
Universality:
Mutability:
Inaccessibility:
Contemporary
Linguistics
Analysis: p. 5.
• Grammars change over
•
•
•
•
time.
All grammars are equal.
All languages have a
grammar.
Grammatical knowledge is
subconscious.
Grammars are alike in
basic ways.
Define each
 Generality:
 All languages have a grammar
 Parity:
 All grammars are equal
 Universality:
 Grammars are alike in basic ways
 Mutability:
 Grammars change over time
 Inaccessibility:
 Grammatical knowledge is subconscious
Contemporary
Linguistics
Analysis: p. 5.
 What you should know:
FIELDS OF
LINGUISTICS
(handout and
Powerpoint)




Linguistics
Fields of linguistics (handout and in
class)
Descriptive linguistics
Applied linguistics
FIELDS OF LINGUISTICS
THEORETICAL
LINGUISTICS
a. Computational
b.
c.
d.
e.
linguistics
Morphology
Neurolinguistics
Phonology
Pragmatics
APPLIED
LINGUISTICS
f. Psycholinguistics
g. Semantics
h. Sociolinguistics
i. Syntax
FIELDS OF LINGUISTICS
THEORETICAL
LINGUISTICS
b)
d)
e)
g)
i)
Morphology
Phonology
Pragmatics
Semantics
Syntax
APPLIED
LINGUISTICS
a) Computational
linguistics
c) Neurolinguistics
f) Psycholinguistics
h) Sociolinguistics
PHONETICS:
A Brief
Introduction
(Handout and
Powerpoint)
 What you should know:
 Sounds
of English
Consonants, vowels &
glides
 IPA
symbols general
Consonants
Phonetic Practice
1. Read these words phonetically and write
them out using conventional English
spelling.
 [mit]
 MEAT
 [ ʃuz]
 SHOES
 [skul]
 SCHOOL
 [mjuzɪk]
 MUSIC
Phonetic Practice
2. Fill in the missing symbols.
 Cartoons
=[ _ɑ__u__]
 Singing = [ _ ɪ _ ɪ _ ]
 English = [ɪ_ _ _ ɪ_]
 Cheese = [_ _ _ _ ]
[kɑrtunz]
[sɪŋɪŋ]
[ɪŋglɪʃ]
[tʃiz]
IPA Consonants Examples
IPA Vowels (examples)
IPA Vowels (Diphthongs)
IPA Glides (examples)