Lecture2 Language and languages

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Lecture2Language and languages

• On differences and similarities between languages
• On classifying languages

Pieter Brueghel Tower of Babel (1563)
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The obvious

• Here is a sentence in English
• Her er en sætning på dansk
• Hier gibt es ein deutscher Satz
• Voici un phrase en français

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Doctrines of linguistic diversity

• The infinite diversity of human speech
  (W.D.Whitney, 1892)
• Language is a human activity that varies without
  assignable limit (E. Sapir, 1921)
• Languages can differ from each other without
  limit and in unpredictable ways (M. Joos, 1957)

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Consequences of the doctrines for linguistics

• If languages may differ from each other without
  limit, then there would be no way in which to
  decide what would be impossible properties of a
  language
• If languages may differ from each other in
  unpredict-able ways, then there would be no way
  in which to decide what set of properties may
  count as a language
• So, there could be no science of language. And
  our capacity for languge would be a mystery, not
  a problem.

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Design Features of Language
PreChomsky

• Arbitrariness

• Complete feedback
• Cultural transmission
• Learnability
• Prevarication

• Duality of structure
• ('Double articulation')

• Interchangeabililty

• Discreteness

• PostChomsky
• Structure dependency

• Productivity
• Semanticity

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Arbitrariness

• A language is a system of rules that relate sound
  and meaning - BUT
• the relationship between sound and meaning is
  arbitrary
• A rose by any other name would smell as sweet
• The linguistic sign

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The linguistic sign
/roz/
expression
denotes refers to
content (meaning, sense)
the concept of rose
Denotation Referent
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Duality of structure ('Double articulation')
a
i
m
d
Letters
Words
am
adam
I
madam
a
dam
mad
mid
dim
amid
ad
Posible words
adim
dima
amdi
adima
etc.
dami
Impossible words
adm
imd
mdai
etc.
Sentences
Madam Im Adam.
I am mad, Adam. etc.
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Interchangeabililty
I guess hes mad?
I told you not to crumble it!
I bet he gets away with it too!
Alright, Ill smooth it back, dont worry.
The same system shifts be- tween sender and
receiver. This is interchangeability
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Discreteness
What letter is this
c
a a
a
o
g
a d
t
It is a matter of Discreteness that in each case,
a must be either a or d, it cannot be both a and
d.
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Structure dependence
What is the rule for forming questions in English?

• Peter will sleep there
• Will Peter sleep there? (Swich the first two
  elements around)
• Every boy in the group will sleep there
• Boy every in the group will sleep there?
• Will every boy in the group sleep there?
• So, every boy in the group counts as one
  structural element, although it consists of 5
  words. This is a matter of structure dependence.

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Language Families
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Genetic rela- tionships (Germanic)
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CorrespondencesRask-Grimms Law
IE
bh dh gh
b d g
p t k
f ? h
b d g
CG
p t k
b d g
Verners Law
IE bhráter gt ModG Bruder IE pitár gt ModG
Vater
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Language types -based on structure of word
Isolating (Vietnamese)
Languages with no or little inflection
Inflectional (Latin)
dom - is dom - PLU ABL house -
-s from out of (the) houses
Agglutinative (Turkish)
ev - ler - im - de ev -
PLU - POSS1s - LOC house -s my
in in my houses
Polysynthetic (Greenlandic)
Languages in which sentences can be formed
as single words
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Language types according to typical order of
grammatical functions
Blue subject (S) Red verb (V) Yellow object
(O)
The farmer killed the duckling SVO
Killed the farmer the duckling VSO
S before O
The farmer the duckling killed SOV
the duckling killed the farmer OVS
Killed the duckling the farmer VOS
O before S
The duckling the farmer killed OSV