Introduction to Linguistics

(ASSIGNMENT #1 … SEMESTER FALL-2023)

(Submission Date (7th November, 2023)

Submitted By:

KHADIJA ARSHAD (23011502-003)

Course Title:
(Introduction to Linguistics)
Course Code:
ENG-113
BS ENGLISH 1st (Section “A”)
Submitted To:

MS. Shazia Saleem

UNIVERSITY OF GUJRAT
 Table of Contents
1 Language……………………………………………………………..
2 Characteristics of Language………………………………………..
3 Linguistics…………………………………………………………….
4 Types of Linguistics………………………………………………….
4.1 Diachronic linguistics………………………………………………..
4.2 Synchronic linguistics……………………………………………….
4.3 Comparatively linguistics……………………………………………
5 Theories of linguistics……………………………………………….
6 Animals and Human languages…………………………………….
7 Features that separate human communication from animals……
7.1 Displacement…………………………………………………………
7.2 Arbitrariness………………………………………………………….
7.3 Cultural transmission…………………………………………………
7.4 Productivity………………………………………………………….
7.5 Duality……………………………………………………………….
8 References……………………………………………………………
 Introduction to Linguistics
Language:
“Language, a system of conventional spoken, manual (signed), or written
symbols by means of which human beings, as members of a social group and
participants in its culture, express themselves.

Characteristics of Language:
Here are some characteristics of language.

 Symbolic: Words represent ideas or objects.

 Rule-governed: Grammar and syntax provide structure.
 Dynamic: Language evolves and changes over time.
 Communicative: It facilitates communication between individuals.
 Expressive: Language can convey complex thoughts and emotions.
 Unique to humans: It's a distinctive trait of human beings.

What is Linguistics?

“Linguistics is the study of language. It explores how language works,

how it is structured, and how it is used in communication. Linguists
analyze sounds, words, grammar, and meaning to understand the
complexities of different languages. It's a fascinating field.”
 Types of Linguistics:
Here are some types of Linguistics are as follows:

 Diachronic linguistics
 Synchronic linguistics
 Comparatively linguistics

1. Diachronic linguistics:
“Diachronic linguistics is the study of language change over time. It
examines how languages evolve and develop.

2. Synchronic linguistics:
“Synchronic linguistics focuses on studying language at a specific
point in time, without considering its historical development. It analyzes the
structure and function of language as it exists in the present.

3. Comparatively linguistics:
“Comparative linguistics, also known as historical linguistics, is the
study of how languages are related to each other and how they have evolved over
time. It examines similarities and differences between languages to uncover their
shared origins and historical development. It's like investigating the family tree of
languages.

Theories of Linguistics:
Here are some theories of linguistics are as follows:

 The Devine Source

 The Natural Sound Source
(The “Bow-Wow” Theory)
(The “Pooh-Pooh” Theory)
 The Musical Source
 The Social Interaction Source

 The Physical Adaptation

 (Teeth and Lips)
(Mouth and Tongue)
(Lynx and Pharynx)
 The Tool-Making Source
(The Human Brain)
 The Genetic Source
(The Innateness Hypothesis)

1. The Devine Source:

In most religions, it is believed that language is a God-given gift to human
species. In Christianity, God gave Adam the kingdom of all animals in the
Garden of Eden and the first thing Adam did was to name these animals. That
is how language started according to religious sources. Today people speak
many different languages rather than only one language because ancient
humans became too proud and they tried to build the Tower of Babel in order
to reach God. So, God punished them by separating their languages.

2. The Natural Sound Source:

The theory of language developed by Jespersen (1922) says that

primitive words derive from imitations of natural sounds that early men and
women heard around them. The human auditory system is already functioning
before birth, allowing humans to make a connection between a sound and the thing
producing that sound.

2.1 The Bow-Wow theory

In English, Cuckoo and Coo-Coo are examples of onomatopoeia; the names of the
things are associated with their sounds, where a human tries to imitate the sounds
of objects made by other humans. In addition to the cuckoo, we have splash, bang,
boom, rattle, hiss, screech, and of course bow-wow.

2.2 The Pooh-Pooh theory:

The pooh-pooh theory proposes that language evolved from involuntary

vocalizations such as cries, sighs, and groans.
 3. The Musical Source:
Musical languages are constructed languages based on musical sounds,
which tend to incorporate articulation. Unlike tonal languages, focused on stress,
and whistled languages, focused on pitch bends, musical languages distinguish
pitches or rhythms.

4. The Social Interaction Source:

According to this theory, ancient humans who lived in larger groups
because of protection and survival used to work in a group so they might generate
a set of grunts, hums, curses, and groans for calling each other. But it does not
answer the question of the origin of language as animals like chimpanzees also
used to call each other by using those sounds but they did not initiate speaking
language.

5. The Physical Adaptation Source:

This source is based on physical features human processes that are
distinct from other creatures (particularly non- humans) which may have enabled
speech production.

 Teeth and Lips:

Like other species of apes, human teeth are not inclining outwards and that
helps them to produce language. Moreover, human lips have more complex
enlacing muscles than apes. This flexibility helps in the production of sound.
Here is an example to get this point that in all over the world, 1-year babies
mostly speak their first word with “m” or “b” no matter what language their
parents speak.
 Mouth and Tongue:
The human mouth is smaller than other species and can easily move faster.
In comparison to apes, the human tongue is shorter, thicker, and muscular
which helps to produce strong sounds through different shapes.
 Larynx and pharynx:
The voice box or vocal cords of humans also called the larynx is also clearly
different from other species through which they easily can produce sounds.
 6. The Tool-Making Source:
The traces of tool making are evidence that previous humans use
their brains to work. The left and right hemispheres of the human brain have
different functions to perform. At the initial stage, it seems that the previous
human was used to indicate the object by using a single sound in his
environment. But after time, human-produced language by combining and
organizing single words referred to certain situations. In other words, humans
started by using their naming ability to message-building capacity in order to
produce language. This ability is not present in other primates and makes
humans different from other species.

7. The Genetic Source:

At birth, the larynx of a human baby is like that of a chimpanzee then
after a short period of time, the larynx drops, the brain develops and the infant
starts talking and walking. This thing made scholars look into other factors than
those physical sources for language. Even children who are born deaf become
fluent sign language users very early in life. This seems to suggest that human
offspring are born with a special capacity for language. It is innate, no other
creature seems to have it, and it isn't bound to a specific variety of languages.

Animals and Human Languages:

Human communication is an open communication system that can
easily create new meanings and messages. Most animal communication systems
are basically innate; they do not have to learn them, but some species' systems
entail a certain amount of learning.

Features that separate human communication from animals:

 Displacement
 Arbitrariness
 Cultural Transmission
  Productivity
 Duality

1. Displacement
Animal communication is designed for the immediate place
and time (here and now)

• Humans can use language to refer to the past, present and future e.g. last night,
now, next week

• We can even talk about things and places whose existence we cannot be sure of
e.g. angels, fairies, Superman, Santa Claus, heaven, hell.

2. Arbitrariness
Generally, there is no ‘natural’ connection between a
linguistic form and its meaning. The relation between linguistic forms and the
objects they refer to is arbitrary Dog in English and ‫ كلب‬in Arabic. There are some
words (onomatopoeic) in language with sounds that seems to ‘echo’ the sounds of
objects or actions (less arbitrary).

3. Cultural Transmission
Humans inherit physical features from their parents but not
language. We acquire a language in a culture with other speakers (not from
parental genes).

Cultural transmission: The process whereby a language is passed on from one

generation to the next. We are born with a predisposition to acquire language (but
not with the ability to produce utterances in a specific language). We acquire our
1st language as children in a culture.

4. Productivity
The capability of humans to continually create new expressions
utterances to describe new objects and situations the number of
utterance in any human language is infinite.
  The communication systems of other creatures don’t have this
flexibility.
 They have a limited set of signals to choose from (fixed reference)
 Each signal in the system is fixed as relating to a particular object or
occasion.
 They cannot produce any new signals to describe novel experiences.

5. Duality
In speech production:

 At a physical level, individual discrete sounds (e.g. g, d, & o) mean nothing

separately.
 At another level, they take on meaning only when they are combined
together in various ways (e.g. god/ dog)
 Human language is organized at 2 levels or layers simultaneously:
 At one level - distinct sounds.
 At another level - distinct meanings.

Duality is one of the most economical features of human language (with a

limited set of discrete sounds, we are capable of producing a very large number
of sound combinations (e.g. words)