Introduction to Language

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Introduction to Language
Deny A. Kwary www.kwary.net
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The Textbook

• Introduction to Language
• By. Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams

The Course Materials

• Open www.kwary.net
• Click Linguistics
• Click Introduction to Language
• Download the lecture materials

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What is Language?

• Language is the method of human communication,
  either spoken or written, consisting of the use
  of words in a structured and conventional way.

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The Creativity Aspect of Language

• Human language must be creative allowing novelty
  and innovation is response to new thoughts,
  experiences, and situations

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Linguistic Knowledge

• Knowledge of the Sound System Knowing what
  sounds are in that language and what sounds are
  not.

• Knowledge of Words Knowing the sound units that
  are related to specific meanings.
• Knowledge of Sentences Knowing how to form
  sentences.

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• Linguistic Competence
• What you know about a language.

• Linguistic Performance
• How you use this knowledge in actual speech
  production and comprehension.

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Prescriptive Grammar

• 1762 Bishop Robert Lowth A Short Introduction
  to English Grammar with Critical Notes.
• I dont have none ?
• You was wrong ?
• Mathilda is fatter than me ?

I dont have any
You were wrong
Mathilda is fatter than I

• Many of those rules were based on Latin grammar.
  Latin was assumed as the respected scientific
  language in the 15th 17th Centuries.

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Descriptive Grammar

• 1985 Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey
  Leech, and Jan Svartvik A Comprehensive Grammar
  of the English Language.
• Based on a corpus of actual spoken and written
  English.

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Thats all for today

• See you next week

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