Linguistics 372: Language and Social Identity in the U.S.

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Linguistics 372Language and Social Identity in
the U.S.

• Day 2

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What Every Educated Person Should Know About
Language(fundamental assumptions of the field of
linguistics)
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• What is language?

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• What is language? Language is the systematic,
  conventional use of sounds, signs, (or written
  symbols) in a human society for communication

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Assumption 1 Language is arbitrary

• (Linguistic) arbitrariness The connection
  between form and meaning is random. This
  contrasts with Iconicity.

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Assumption 1 Language is arbitrary

• (Linguistic) arbitrariness The connection
  between form and meaning is random. This
  contrasts with Iconicity.
• Iconicity The relationship between form and
  meaning, in which form is dictated by meaning.

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• Evidence for arbitrariness
• 1) Multiple sound sequences for one
  meaning/reference, both within a language and
• across languages (cross-linguistically)
• e.g., sofa vs. couch
• cat vs. gato (Spanish) vs. koshka (Russian)

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• Evidence for arbitrariness
• 1) Multiple sound sequences for one
  meaning/reference, both within a language and
• across languages (cross-linguistically)
• e.g., sofa vs. couch
• cat vs. gato (Spanish) vs. koshka (Russian)
• 2) One sound sequence for multiple
  meanings/references, both within a language and
  cross-linguistically
• e.g., bat (baseball vs. flying animal)

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• Evidence for arbitrariness
• 1) Multiple sound sequences for one
  meaning/reference, both within a language and
• across languages (cross-linguistically)
• e.g., sofa vs. couch
• cat vs. gato (Spanish) vs. koshka (Russian)
• 2) One sound sequence for multiple
  meanings/references, both within a language and
  cross-linguistically
• e.g., bat (baseball vs. flying animal)
• 3) Language Change if the connection between
  form and meaning is non-arbitrary, languages
  should never change, but they do.

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• Some exceptions
• Onomatopoeia- Use of words that are imitative of
  sounds occurring in nature.
• e.g., Cows go moo in many languages (English,
  Greek, Hebrew . . .) Sound symbolism
  Phenomenon by which certain sounds are evocative
  of a particular meaning.
• e.g., English sl- clusters slick, slippery,
  slide, sleek, slink . . .

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Assumption 2 Language is rule-governed.

• Evidence
• Productivity The ability to produce and
  understand an infinite number of utterances that
  have never been expressed before.

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Assumption 2 Language is rule-governed.

• Evidence
• Productivity The ability to produce and
  understand an infinite number of utterances that
  have never been expressed before.
• Recursion A property of languages allowing for
  the repeated application of a rule, yielding
  infinitively long sentences or an infinite number
  of sentences.

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Assumption 2 Language is rule-governed.

• Evidence
• Productivity The ability to produce and
  understand an infinite number of utterances that
  have never been expressed before.
• Recursion A property of languages allowing for
  the repeated application of a rule, yielding
  infinitively long sentences or an infinite number
  of sentences.
• Regular mistakes in child language acquisition
  (especially
• Overgeneralization When a word or grammatical
  feature denotes more to a child than an adult)

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• But what do we mean by rules? (Prescriptivism vs.
  Descriptivism)
• Descriptive Grammar- Objective description of a
  speakers knowledge of a language (competence)
  based on their use of the language (performance)
• Prescriptive Grammar - A set of rules designed
  to give instruction as to the correct or
  proper way to speak. Based in social and
  linguistic prejudice against speakers of
  non-standard dialects. (see Handout 1.2)

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• Some ideas from Lippi-Green, Ch.1 to keep in
  mind here (Grammaticality and communicative
  effectiveness are distinct and independent
  issues (p. 10))
• Linguistic grammaticality
• Socially-Constructed grammaticality
• Effectiveness is often times situational
• TA using slang in the classroom (ineffective?)
• TA using slang with friends at bar (effective)

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Assumption 3 Speech should be considered primary
(as opposed to writing).

• 1) Writing developed after speech (roughly 6,000
  years ago).

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Assumption 3 Speech should be considered primary
(as opposed to writing).

• 1) Writing developed after speech (roughly 6,000
  years ago).
• 2) Not all languages are written (even today).

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Assumption 3 Speech should be considered primary
(as opposed to writing).

• 1) Writing developed after speech (roughly 6,000
  years ago).
• 2) Not all languages are written (even today).
• 3) Writing must be taught, but children learn to
  speak without overt instruction.

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Assumption 3 Speech should be considered primary
(as opposed to writing).

• 1) Writing developed after speech (roughly 6,000
  years ago).
• 2) Not all languages are written (even today).
• 3) Writing must be taught, but children learn to
  speak without overt instruction.
• 4) Neurolingusitic evidence suggests that areas
  in the brain that are involved in the processing
  of written language are overlaid on speech areas.

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Assumption 3 Speech should be considered primary
(as opposed to writing).

• 1) Writing developed after speech (roughly 6,000
  years ago).
• 2) Not all languages are written (even today).
• 3) Writing must be taught, but children learn to
  speak without overt instruction.
• 4) Neurolingusitic evidence suggests that areas
  in the brain that are involved in the processing
  of written language are overlaid on speech areas.
• 5) Not all writing systems represent sounds of
  the language.

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Assumption 4 All spoken languages change over
time. (L-G, 199710)

• All areas of the grammar (areas of language use)
  change.
• Lexicon (vocabulary of a language)
• Sound structure
• Tone and rhythm
• Syntax (the way sentences are put together)
• Meaning
• Social status of linguistic features

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Assumption 4 All spoken languages change over
time. (L-G, 199710)

• All areas of the grammar (areas of language use)
  change.
• Lexicon (vocabulary of a language)
• Sound structure
• Tone and rhythm
• Syntax (the way sentences are put together)
• Meaning
• Social status of linguistic features
• All areas of the grammar can also show variation
  (typically, only lasts over a particular time
  frame).

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Assumption 5 Variation is natural.

• 1) Three sources of variation in language use
• Language-internal pressures (based on how we
  physically produce and perceive language)
• Language-external influences (social behavior,
  the marking of group membership, peer pressure)
• The use of language as a tool for creative
  expression

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Assumption 5 Variation is natural.

• 2) All areas of the grammar can show variation
  (see Assumption 4, above.).
• 3) Variation occurs by a number of social
  characteristics in society
• Age
• Race
• Gender/Sex
• Ethnicity
• Social Class
• Geographic background (where you were raised)

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• Only some variation is stigmatized.
• Non-stigmatized variation somebody vs. someone
• Socially relevant variation house/happy (do you
  use an h or not?)
• Socially relevant stigmatized variation
• - progressive in vs. ing
• - double negation
• Why is only some variation stigmatized?
• Clue Who uses stigmatized forms? And who gets to
• say these forms are stigmatized?

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• Basic premise of sociolinguistics Speakers
  actively use variation in order to locate
  themselves in a highly complex, multidimensional
  social space. In other words, language is
  heterogeneous (variable). As we will see, this is
  not a problemheterogeneity has the social
  function of identifying and separating us from
  each other.

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Class Exercise Perceptions and Reality

• Step 1 Draw lines on your U.S. map around areas
  where people speak differently than you and/or
  differently than each other.
• Step 2 Rate each of your areas according to how
  good the speech is in each area (1 best).
  You may add other comments as desired.
• Step 3 Turn in your maps to me before you leave
  class today. Do not put your name on them.