 Linguistics (2006 fall)
 Textbook: Linguistics
An Introduction to Language
 What is Linguistics?
 What is Linguistics?
It is the scientific study of human natural languages.
(Rules of languages.)
 What is a language?
Do animals have languages?
Animal communication one for warnings of predators, one for claims to territory, etc.
 Do Animals have languages?
 Animals could give warnings of predators
Does it mean animals have a languages?
No, they are finite number of signs.
You can make infinite number of sentences.
Ex. 1. It was unexpectedly cold.
2. John wrote that it was unexpected cold.
3. Mary said that John wrote that it was
unexpected cold.
4. I heard that Mary said that that John wrote
that it was unexpected cold.
 Can chimpanzee learn a language?
 Chimpanzees share 98% of genes with human beings.
Can they learn a human language?
 Some psychologists taught English to chimpanzees.
A chimp responded to some speeches such as “Kiss me” and “Bring me the dog.” However, the
chimp did not respond to “Kiss the dog.”
 Chimpanzee - language
 A language must have grammar.
(The difference between “kiss me” and “kiss the dog”)
Animals may have signs that are equivalent to words, but they do not have grammar.
 warning that a predator is coming.
Is there a sign that no predators are coming?
 Animal communications do not have structures.
(no grammar)
 poor input  complicated language
 Ex1. Hawaii plantation labors from Japan, China, Korea, and Philippine – pidgin language (late
19th Century to early 20th century)
Pidgin language – no grammar
their children – developed the grammar (complicated language)  Creole
 Ex2. deaf child
parents’ sign language – grammatical mistakes
The sign language produced by the child has grammar
 Wug test
 Children are born with language acquisition device.
(Children are able to understand the grammar.)
 Wug test
The word, “wug” is not a real word.
A researcher shows a pretended creature to a child saying “this is a wug.” Next, he shows
another one, and says that there are two of them. There are two ...?” The child responds that
“wugs.”
The child added the plural morpheme “-z” although he has never heard of “wug” before. The
result of this test indicates that children do not memorize the plural forms, but they follow the
rules.
 Languages rules
 Linguistics is the study of language rules.
We are going to study these rules.
Is Linguistics useful?
If you learn the rules of English, it would help you improve English.
Example: morpheme
able vs. unable, acquainted vs. unacquainted
When “un-” is attached to an adjective, the meaning becomes the opposite of the original
meaning. (不) You do not have to memorize each word.
 Application of Linguistics
 Syntax: how you combine words.
MS words have grammar checkers.
They use syntactic rules.
 Linguistic knowledge is used to speech recognition, machine translation and so on.
 All languages are complex
 Some people consider that some languages are better than other languages. For example,
African American English (Black English) were considered to be bad. However, the research
shows that the grammar in African American English is different from the standard English.
Furthermore, African American English is as complex as the standard English.
(They need to speak the standard English to get jobs)
 Taiwanese is as complex as Mandarin.
 The areas of Linguistics
 The areas of Linguistics are Morphology, Phonetics, Phonology, Syntax, Semantics, Language
Variation (Sociolinguistics), Language Change (Historical Linguistics), etc.
 Morphology deals with the properties of words and word-building rules.
 The areas of Linguistics 2
 In Phonetics, people conduct research on production and perception of speech sounds. In this
class, we will study transcription of speech sounds, and where these sounds are produced.
 In Phonology, researchers look for the rules of sounds. Phonetics is physical sounds while
Phonology is abstract of sounds.
 Syntax is concerned with the structures of sentences and phrases. We will study Syntax next
semester.
 The areas of Linguistics 3
 Semantics is concerned with the meanings of languages. Synonyms, paraphrasing, etc will be
discussed. We will study Semantics next semester.
 In Historical Linguistics, linguists have worked on the changes of Languages. For example, some
words in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese are derived from old Chinese. Based on these
words, some linguists have worked to construct the old Chinese.
 The areas of Linguistics 4
 An example study of Sociolinguistcs is the difference between British English and American
English (lift vs. elevator).
 In Pragmatics, researchers have worked on speech acts and the intension of the speech. For
example, the speech, “it is hot,” may be a request, “please open the window.”
 Other areas of linguistics would be explained if we have time.
 Morphology (morpheme)
 What is a morpheme?
A morpheme is the smallest unit of linguistic meaning.
An example of a morpheme is such as “-s” in “walks”. You may think that it does not have
meaning. This “-s” indicates that the subject of the sentence is third person singular and
present. So the meaning of morpheme can be grammatical information.
 Morphemes: useful
 Learning the meanings of morphemes helps building vocabulary.
Ex.
Psyche: the soul or sprit, the mind
psycho-: “mental”
psycho-analysis 精神分析,
psycho-analyst 精神分析學家,
psychology 心理學, psychologist 心理學家 psycho-drama, psycho-history,
 Inflectional morphology
 Morphology has two areas: inflectional morphology and derivational morphology.
 In a dictionary, a word is listed with some forms such as “walked,” “walking,” and “walks.”
 Inflectional morphology deals with these forms.
 The forms consist of two parts:
(ex. “walk” and “-ed”). “walk” is called the base, and “-ed” is affix (suffix)
Suffix comes after the base and prefix comes before the base.
 Derivational Morphology
 Derivational morphology deals with word-building.
 Derivational affixes change the word meanings or parts of speech.
(Parts of speech: grammatical categories such as noun)
 Examples of morphemes
 An example is “-er” in “baker.” “bake” means “to cook, esp. in an oven. “baker” means that
someone who bake. “Opener” is a tool that is used to open things.
So when you find a word that consists of a verb and “-er”, it means someone who does it or
something which is a tool to do it.
Another example is “-ition” in “competition.” “Compete” is a verb while “competition” is a
noun.
So the part of speech changes from verb to noun by attaching “-ition.”
 Free and bound morphemes
 Free morphemes can stand alone. Free morphemes are independent bases. For example,
“walk” is a free morpheme.
 Bound morphemes must be attached to another morphemes. For example, “-s” is a bound
morpheme.
There are three kinds of bound morphemes: affixes, bound bases and contracted forms.
 Morphemes (cont.)
 Affixes: prefixes, suffixes and infixes
prefixes are attached to the beginning of a base. Examples are “in-”, “re-”, and “pre-” Suffixes
are attached to the end of a base. Examples are “-ize,” “-ful”
Infixes are attached within another morpheme. English does not have infixes.
 An example of bound bases is “cran-” in “cranberry.” There is no independent word, “cran” so
it is bound.
 Open class and closed class
 Closed class words are grammatical or functional words. The numbers of these words increase
very slowly so it is called closed class. (the way of memorizing - The door to this class is closed.)
Ex. articles (a, the), demonstrative (this, that), quantifiers (some, many), etc.
 Open class words are content words.
Ex. nouns, verbs, adjectives.
 Open class and closed class (cont.)
 Closed class words are omitted in telegraphic speeches.
Telegraphic speeches are used in telegraph (電報). They are also used in newspaper headlines, and
classified advertising.
“ The Taiwan dollar hit a 10-month low…”
In order to reduce the amount, the closed class words are omitted in telegraphic speech.
 Creating new words
 Coined words: speakers invent (or coin) new words (sound and meaning).
blog, google, web
新的單詞
 Acronyms: each of the letters that spell the words is the first letter of some other complete
words. These acronyms are pronounced as normal words; in other words, people do not spell
these words.
 For example, the word, “radar” is pronounced [rejdAù], but NOT pronounced like [Aùr ej diù ej
Aùr].
 Creating new words 2
 Alphabetic abbreviations
Each letter is pronounced separately.
www: World Wide Web [dÃbljuù dÃbljuù dÃbljuù]
 Clippings: words are shortened.
photograph  photo, telephone phone,
orthographic abbreviation – in writing, shortened forms are used but people pronounce these
words with the original forms.
Doctor  Dr. Arizona  AR
 學生號碼  學號
 Creating new words 3
 Blends: Blending existing words
ex. breakfast + lunch  brunch
a combination of breakfast and lunch
In the USA, many people oversleep (they get up late) and do not eat breakfast. Then they eat
brunch.
Ex. motor + hotel  motel
network + etiquette  netiquette
 Creating new words 4
 Generified words: brand names of products become the name for products in general.
Ex. Xerox, Kleenex, Band-Aid, Post-it
 People say “Post-it” instead of “sticky note.”
 Borrowings: Direct (pronunciation)
chocolate 巧克力, curry 咖哩, 颱風 typhoon
 Borrowings: Indirect (translation)
Microsoft 微軟, hotdog 熱夠, white house白宮
download 下載, 鍋貼 pot-sticker
 Change the Meaning of words
 同志 comrade  gay
 Broadening: the meaning of a word is expanded
ex. “cool”
a specific style of jazz 
anything

Narrowing
 Semantic drift: ex lady
kneader of bread  a woman with nice behaviors
 Change the Meaning of words 2
 Reversal: positive  negative
square: honest (positive)  boring (negative)
 Metaphorical Extension
ex1. terms for travel in sea  travel in space (ship, captain)
ex2. Physical vocabulary is used for mental life (chew on the idea, swallow the idea)
 Compounding
 Compounding: two or more words form a compound word (複合詞)
 Head of compound words: the rightmost
member
The parts of speech of compound words
generally are the same as those of the heads.
Stress falls on the leftmost part
Ex. green house (adj + noun)  the head “house”
part of speech: noun
stress: GREEN house
 Compound words (cont.)
 The head of compound words - underlined
newsstand, pigpen, sandpaper,
sandbox, freeway, watch-maker
 Chinese examples whose head of compound words are the rightmost member
蜜蜂, 毛筆, 大學生, 英語
Other types of Chinese compound words:
尺寸, 大小
 Compound words – phrases
 writing compound words – not consistent
Some has hyphen (ex air-conditioner)
Some has space, some are written together
teatime, tea-time, tea time
 In general, compound words have only one stress (there are exceptions)
ex. compound words vs. phrases
blackbird
black bird
makeup
make up
whiteboard
mousetrap
teatime
 Headless compound words
 Headless compound words
Maple Leafs (hockey team)
leaf – not the head of the word
Pickpocket, cutpurse (扒手)
The rightmost parts are not the head of these compound words.
A pickpocket is not a kind of pocket.
Ladyfingers are finger-shaped cookies.
 Agentive suffix “-er”
 When the suffix “-er,” is added to a verb (X) , the meaning of a new word is “one who does X, or
“an instrument that does X”.
Ex
write 書寫 writer 書寫人
play 運動 演奏 player 運動員 演奏者
open 開 opener 開啟工具
sound change: adding [«r]
category change: verb  noun
 Suffix “-able”
 When the suffix “-able” is attached to a verb (X), the meaning of a new word is an adjective,
whose meaning is to be able to be “X’d.”
“X’d” – participle, “be X’d” – passive voice
The pronunciation of “-able” is [«bl].
Meaning: 能 可以 耐
Ex
drink drinkable 可以飲用
wash washable 耐洗
 Suffix “-able” (cont.)
 sound change: adding [«bl]
category change:
transitive verb  adjective
“-able” can be attached to transitive verbs
but NOT to intransitive verbs (*sleepable)
In Linguistics, “*” indicates that the word or the sentence is ungrammatical (incorrect).
 Diminutive suffix “-y/ie”
 Diminutive suffix “-y/ie”
Sound change: adding [-i]
Ex. dad [dQd] daddy [dQdi]
Meaning: no change
Category change: noun noun (no change)
Difference: speakers are babies
Parents use these diminutive to their babies
 Hierarchical structure of words
 A word consists of several morphemes. These morphemes are added in a fixed order.
system + -atic  systematic
un- + systematic  unsystematic
unsystematic + -al  unsystematical
unsystematical + -ly  unsystematically
In other words, you cannot add “-al” to “system”
system + -al  *systemal
 Backformation (p97)
 The revised process of word formations
In general, a suffix is attached to a base word, and form a new word. (xerox + -able
xeroxable)
Backformation is to create new words by deleting affixes.
Ex. peddler (drug dealer)  peddle, editor edit,
burglar (破門入室的盜賊)  burgle (偷盜)
Laser - acronym (light amplification stimulated emission)  “-er” is not a agent suffix.
BUT the verb, “lase,” was coined (invented).
 Backformation (cont.)
 “s” in kudos (fame and respect because of achievement) is NOT the plural suffix, and it was
pronounced [s].
BUT “s” in kudos is considered to be a plural suffix “-s” and pronounced [z].
 Backformation  backform, Enthusiasm enthuse, liaison  liaise
 The word “bikini” was taken from the Bikini atoll (環礁); however, “bi” was considered to be
prefix “2”, and then “monokini” and “trikini” are coined.
 Inflectional affixes (p101)
 Inflectional affixes in English are limited.
 Noun inflectional suffix
plural marker girls
possessive marker Mary’s
 Verb inflectional suffix
Third person present singular marker bakes
past tense marker baked
progressive marker baking
past participle marker eaten (broken, given)
 Adjective inflectional suffix
comparative marker faster
superlative marker fastest
 inflectional vs. derivational
 inflectional affixes in English NEVER changes the category
ex. cheap (adj)  cheaper (adj)
derivational suffixes can change the category
ex. love (verb)  lovable (adj)
the category is changed from verb to adjective
 inflectional suffixes will attach after the derivational suffixes
ex. modern
base word
modernize derivational suffix “-ize”
modernizes
inflectional suffix “-s”
 inflectional vs. derivational (cont.)
 inflectional suffix – the meaning changes is predictable (regular)
ex. tree  trees “-s” in “tress” shows the plurality.
 derivational suffix – the meaning change is NOT predictable
ex. The meaning of “inattentive” is the opposite meaning of “attentive” so the meaning of the
prefix “in-” is the opposite of.
The meaning of “in-” in “inbound” is “towards.”
Thus, the meaning of “in-” is not predictable.
 Morphology and Syntax (p103)
 Paraphrasing
You can express the same thing syntactically or morphologically.
England’s queen is Elizabeth II. vs.
The queen of England is Elizabeth II.
He loves books. vs. He is a lover of books.
The planes which fly are red. vs.
The flying planes are red.
He is hungrier than she.
He is more hungry than she.
 Suppletions
 Irregular forms such as the plural form of “children” are the residue of Old or Middle English.
am
was
been
come came
come
go
went
gone
sing
sang
sung
mouse mice
woman women
good
bad
better
best
worse
worst