Introduction to the Study of English KAA UJ00 Seminars

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Introduction to the Study of English (KAA UJ00) -
Seminars

• Welcome!

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Program for today

• Check STAG
• Technical issues
• Warm-up discussion
• Preview of this course

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Technicalities

• Mgr. Václav Joná Podlipský, vaclavjonaspodlipsky_at_
  centrum.cz
• Course website www.anglistika.upol.cz/introLing
• Check it first thing on a Monday morning!!!
• Syllabus
• Required and recommended literature
• Assignments
• Class slideshows
• taking notes

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Requirements for passing

• Pass the two tests
• Make me remember your name by the end of the
  course
• Attendance max. 3 absences
• Participate in discussions, dont be invisible
  (mostly about homework be prepared)
• Name tags
• Sit in the front
• Say Hi when you see me in the streets
• Read do your homework

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Attendance / reading / homework

• If you have
• come, read, done hw
• 4 pts
• come, havent read OR done hw, and you inform me
  about this at the beginning of the class
• 1 pt
• not read OR done hw and you dont inform me
• OR you havent come
• 0 pt
• Maximum 44 pts
• Minimum for passing 32 pts
• Attendance sheet online

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Some questions for you

• What is language?
• What makes different languages different?
• What do different languages share?
• Is abychom better than abysme or I dont
  have any time than I aint got no time?
• What is philology?
• What is linguistics?
• What exactly do you know when you know a
  language?

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• One 19c. traveler about the language of the
  Miskitu Indians in South America
• The grammar is precise and somewhat complicated
  It seems strange to find among an uncultivated
  and uncivilized race rules of grammar as precise
  and well known as are used by the most cultivated
  nations of Europe. The Indian who has no
  literature, no written or defined rules uses the
  grammar of his language with uniformity and
  without confusion. How is this to be explained?
• (Bell 1899 309, quoted in Aitchison 2000, The
  Seeds of Speech)

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Philology and linguistics

• Philology - the study of literature and
  linguistics focused on a specific language. More
  traditional.
• Linguistics
• study of the ability of humans to speak
• search for language universals (properties that
  all languages share)

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• Linguistics is the study of language
• But what is language?
• The primary function of language?
• To communicate ideas

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Speakers idea
Listeners idea
decoding
encoding
SPEECH
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L competence

• The ABILITY to put your thoughts into words (to
  encode)
• OR the ABILITY to understand the meaning of
  someone elses words (to decode)

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L performance

• Actually using your L competence

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Can Tarzan speak English?
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• Tarzan has good L competence
• But he performed poorly
• Tarzans L performance was affected by external
  factors
• Embarrassment
• Stress
• Tiredness
• Etc

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• Linguistics wants to learn about L competence.
• But L competence is hidden
• when you were 6 you could speak your native Czech
  perfectly
• but did you know that Czech has 7 cases?
• the Miskitu Indians mastered the complex grammar
  of their language
• but it was intuitive, subconscious knowledge
• Linguists must observe L performance to learn
  about competence

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What do you know when you know a language?
The study of L competence

• Linguistic plans/levels
• Phonetics
• Phonology
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Semantics
• Pragmatics
• Etc

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1. Phonetics

• You can produce and recognize the sound of your
  language.
• Can you describe how you produce the vowel in mít
• How exactly do you know youre hearing the
  consonant g when someone says gram?
• An UNCONSCIOUS ability
• (L competence is hidden)

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2. Phonology

• You know how the sounds of your language work
  together.
• pronounce these nonsense words in Cz
• pru
• rmu
• prmu
• Pronounce these words
• rád, drít
• prát, trít
• Are all the r sound the same?
• UNCONSCIOUS KNOWLEDGE AGAIN

Polish krtan (1 syll.) Cz hrtan / chrtán
1 syllable
2 syllables
- voiced
- voiceless
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(No Transcript)
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3. Morphology

• You know what parts are words made of and what
  the individual parts mean
• Unbelievability
• Un believe able ity
• Nejnevykrystalizovávatelnejími
• Nejnevykrystalizovávatelnejími
• evdiklerimizde (Turkish)
• ev (house) dik (little) ler (plural) imiz (our)
  de (in)

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• Plus you know what are possible new words and how
  to put them together
• Unmonklike
• Undrivelike
• Víden ský
• Lurek ský
• Borag ský

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(No Transcript)
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4. Syntax

• You can recognize and produce well-formed
  (grammatical) sentences.
• He holiday goes on June in.
• He go on holiday in June.
• He goes on holiday in June.
• In June, he goes on holiday.

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• You have a knowledge about the structure of
  sentences
• Peter hit the ball
• The ball hit Peter
• Who (what) - did what - to whom (to what)
• Petr trefil míc
• Míc trefil Petr

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5. Semantics

• You can determine the meaning of a sentence.
• I saw her back.
• Visiting relatives can be dreadful.
• Mary is a spinster.
• Mary is an unmarried female.

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• Meaning (semantics) and structure (syntax) are
  separate.
• He holiday goes on June in.
• structure bad, meaning is still there
• Tasteful big apples grow slowly.
• Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
• Structure ok, no meaning

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6. Pragmatics

• You know how context affects the meaning of
  sentences
• Can you drive? Yes, I can.
• Can you drive? OK.
• Im leaving you.
• Who is he?

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Assignments for next week

• Explore course website.
• Print the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
  chart (see website) and bring it to next class.
• Go to the online English phonetic library (see
  website), compare it to the IPA chart, and listen
  to sounds and watch movies. Explore speech
  anatomy.
• Reading Yule, chapter 4 the sounds of language.
• Consult IPA and the online phonetics library
  while reading