Introduction to the study of English language

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Introduction to the study of English language

• BA, engelsk
• tt

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The position of English

• Where does it come from as a language?
• Older forms of English
• Where has it gone?
• How has it come to be as it is?
• Varieties of Modern English

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(No Transcript)
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Old English(Caedmons Hymn, ca. 735)

• Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard,
• Now shall-we praise heavens guardian,
• metudæs maecti end his modgidanc,
• The-Lords might and his mind,
• uerc uuldurfadur sue he uundra
  gi-huaes,
• work of-the-wonderfather such-as he of-wonders
  of-each,
• eci Dryctin, or astelidæ.
• eternal Master, the-beginning made.
• He aerist scop aelda barnum
• He first created mens
  for-the-children
• heben til hrofe, haleg scepen.
• heaven for roof, holy creator.
• Tha middungeard, moncynnæs uard,
• Then mid-earth, mankinds
  guardian,
• eci Dryctin, æfter tiadæ
• eternal Lord, after ornamented
• firum foldu, frea allmectig.
• for-men the-earth, ruler allmighty.

Now let us praise the power, vision, and creation
of God, for how he ordained the origin of every
wonder. First He created heaven as a roof for
the children of men. Then the Almighty
ornamented the earth for mankind.
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Middle English(The Chronicle of Robert of
Gloucester, ab. 1375)

• Þus com, lo, Engelond in-to Normandies hond
• And Þe Normans ne couÞe speke Þo bote hor owe
  speche,
• And speke French as hii dude atom, and hor
  children dude also teche,
• So Þat heiemen of Þis lond, Þat of hor blod come,
• HoldeÞ alle Þulke speche Þat hii of hom nome
• Vor bote a man conne Frenss me telÞ of him lute.
• Ac lowe men holdeÞ to Engliss, and to hor owe
  speche ute.
• Ich wene Þer ne beÞ in al Þe world contreyes none
  Þat ne holdeÞ to hor owe speche, bot Engelond
  one.
• Ac wel me wot uor to conne boÞe wel it is,
• Vor Þe more Þat a mon can, Þe more wurÞe he is.

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Middle English(The Chronicle of Robert of
Gloucester, ab. 1375)
Þus com, lo, Engelond in-to Normandies hond And
Þe Normans ne couÞe speke Þo bote hor owe
speche, And speke French as hii dude atom, and
hor children dude also teche, So Þat heiemen of
Þis lond, Þat of hor blod come, HoldeÞ alle Þulke
speche Þat hii of hom nome Vor bote a man conne
Frenss me telÞ of him lute. Ac lowe men holdeÞ to
Engliss, and to hor owe speche ute. Ich wene Þer
ne beÞ in al Þe world contreyes none Þat ne
holdeÞ to hor owe speche, bot Engelond one. Ac
wel me wot uor to conne boÞe wel it is, Vor Þe
more Þat a mon can, Þe more wurÞe he is.
Thus came England into the hands of Normandy and
the Normans knew only their own language and they
spoke French as they did at home, and they taught
it to their children, so that lords from this
land that came of their blood all held to the
language that they brought with them from home
for unless a man can speak French they pay little
respect to him. But common people stick with
English, and just to their own language. I think
that there is no country in all this world that
does not stick with its own language, except
England. But it seems to me that it is good to
know both, for the more a man knows, the worthier
he is.
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• English
• one language?
• or many?

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The Expansion of English as Official Language
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Map showing where Modern English is coming from
(Loanwords)
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http//europe.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9811/26/ireland
.blair.02/ tony.blair.30.wav
http//www.abc.net.au/ola/audio/shrimp.ram
http//www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/7695/mary
.ram
http//www.world-voices.com/cgi-bin/srac.pl?urljr
_orangeman
http//www.world-voices.com/cgi-bin/srac.pl?urljr
_dublinman
http//allindiaradio.org/audionews/engram/27082002
1705.ram
http//kfai.org/programs/locnews/990208.ram
http//www.ruf.rice.edu/kemmer/Words/loanwords.ht
ml
http//www.penkatali.org/tamilwords.html
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Turkish Loanwords in English   yoghurt   from 
yog-  'knead, churn',      bosh  'nonsense'  lt 
bos,  'empty'    Jannissary   lt yeni c, eri  
'young soldiers'    Pasha    lt pas,a  
'roughly, Field Marshal'    uhlan   ltoghlan  
'boy, servant'    huzzah!   may be of Turkish
origins.     sultan bey roughly governor
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Dutch Loanwords in English
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Scandinavian loanwords in English   law window ill
loose live die take egg bread   both they, them
etc. etc. etc.
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Tamil Loanwords in English
mandala
catamaran
mango
candy
mulligatawny
chapati
orange
cheroot
pariah
coolie
corundum
patchouli
curry
poon
ginger
tatty
madras
vetiver
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Native American Indian Loanwords in English
avocado cacao cannibal canoe chipmunk chocolate ch
ili hammock hominy hurricane maize moccasin moose
papoose
pecan possum, potato skunk squaw succotash squash
tamale (via Spanish) teepee terrapin tobacco tobog
gan tomahawk
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Language as a means communication

• A model of communication
• Language and languages
• Language system and language use
• The creativity of language
• The constraints of the Code
• Information packaging
• Grammaticality and well-formedness

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A model of communication
Language
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(No Transcript)
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Context
Channel
Sender
Message
Receiver
Channel
Code
Language production
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Context
Channel
Sender
Message
Receiver
Channel
Code
Language understanding
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Language and Languages
(Human) languages can differ from each other
without limit and in unpredictable
ways Martin Joos, American linguist (1959)
Human languages are essentially the same
The Language Instinct Steven Pinker (Booktitle,
1995) Read it!

• Features characteristic of all (and only) human
  languages
• The ability to tell lies
• The ability to speak about situations distant in
  space and time

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Language system and language use
Langue et parole Ferdinand de Saussure
Competence and performance Noam Chomsky
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The creativity of language
Everything can be said and everything can be
understood
More characteristic features of human language

• The double articulation of language

• The principle of semantic compositionality

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Double articulation
English has 45 phonemes, i.e. distinct spech
sounds among them, in random order
/t/
/k/
/h/
/i/
/æ/
/n/
/s/
/z/
/d/
..
/?/
/?/
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Double articulation
But it often only takes one phoneme to
distinguish between words
/t/
/k/
/h/
/i/
/æ/
/n/
/s/
/z/
/d/
..
/?/
/?/
cat
æ
t/
/k
/s
æ
t/
sat
/d
æ
t/
that
hat
/h
æ
t/
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Double articulation
First articulation the level of phonemes
/t/
/k/
/h/
/i/
/æ/
/n/
/s/
/z/
/d/
..
/?/
/?/
cat
æ
t/
/k
/s
æ
t/
sat
/d
æ
t/
that
hat
/h
æ
t/
Second articulation the level of words
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Semantic composition
hat
cat
sat
that
on
the
that
cat
sat
on
the
hat
the
hat
sat
on
that
cat

• The meaning of a sentence is computed from the
  meanings of
• the words it contains
• the rules by which it is composed

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The Constraints of the Code on Communication
The organization of content (meaning)
Information structure
The organization of expression (form) Grammar
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Information packaging
Han svømmede over floden
middel han brugte floden og sig selv
handling der indgår en handling af typen
svømning
måde ved at svømme
resultat han kom over på den anden side af
floden
retning fra den ene bred til den anden
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floden
Han
svømmede
over






middel
resultat
handling
måde
retning
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floden
Han
svømmede
over






middel
resultat
handling
måde
retning
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Grammaticality and meaningfulness
Hun kunne tale engelsk She could speak English
This is a matter of difference between the
grammars of Danish and English
Hun må kunne tale engelsk She must could speak
English
???Min skrivemaskine kan tale engelsk ???My
typewriter can speak English
This is as odd a thing to say in English as in
Danish
?Min computer kan tale engelsk ?My computer can
speak English
This is as questionable in Danish as in English
A well-formed sentence is both grammatical and
meaningful
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The components of language study
Meaning
Sound
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So, what is a Text?
It was the Christmas party at Heighton that was
one of the turning points in Perkins life. The
dutchess had sent him a three-page wire in the
hyperbolic style of her class, conveying a vague
impression that she and the Duke had arranged to
commit suicide together if Perkins didnt chuck
any previous engagment he had made. And Perkins
had felt in a slipshod sort of way for at that
period he was incapable of ordered thought he
might as well be at Heighton as
anywhere (from Perkins and Mankind, by Max
Beerbohm)
Answer A string of sentences after each other .
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- But is it really just that?
Scripps ONeill had two wives. To tip or not to
tip? Dawn crept over the Downs like a sinister
white animal, followed by the snarling cries of a
wind eating its way between the black boughs of
thorns. When I had reached my eighteenth year I
was recalled by my parents to my paternal roots
in Wales.
Correction The building blocks of texts are not
JUST sentences.
New answer Texts are sequences of coherent
sentences .
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Text Analysis

• Figuring out what makes a text coherent

Formal aspects

• Figuring out how a text can be about something

Meaning aspects

• Figuring out why it was written the way it was

Socio-cultural aspects
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