Introduction to Linguistics
LANGUAGE
• Integral part of human life
• Formal system of signs meant for communication,
controlled by grammatical or linguistic rules
• A tool for communication
• A mental faculty that enables to understand and respond
to communication
Definitions of Language
• “Speech is the representation of the experience of the mind”.- Aristotle
• “The totality of utterances that can be made in a speech community is the
language of that speech community”-Bloomfield in Language
• “When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call
“human essence”, the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we
know, unique to man”. –Noam Chomsky in Language and Mind
• Languages are bound by rules: grammar, semantical, phonological
• Saussure identified two levels of structure for human language:
signifier ( symbols or signs suchs as words) and signified ( the
meaning indicated by the signifier)
• Language can be understood as existing at multiple level:
A. At the level of sound
B. At the level of words
C. At the level of sentences
D. At the level of meaning
E. At the level of discourse
Ferdinand de Saussure identified language as a “ system of systems”.
Noam Chomsky: Language is generated from limited structures.
Characteristics of Human Language
• Charles F Hockett idnetified a set of features specific to Human Language
Features:
1. Duality of Structure ( Constructed at two levels, that of words and that of sounds)
2. Arbitrariness
3. Ceativity ( New structures and meaning possible)
4. Productivity ( Infinite combinations of finite structures possible )
5. Displacement
6. Cultural Transmission ( not genetically inherited, but culturally transmitted)
7. Dynamic and Modifiable ( Subject to change; changes take place over long periods of
time)
8. Specialization ( The signal produced is specialised for communication and is not the
side effect of some other behaviour )
Functions of Language
• Roman Jakobson identified 6 communicative functions for lanaguage in his essay "Linguistics
and Poetics" (1958) and published this essay in the text Style in Language (1960):
1. The Referential Function ( Context/information/factual/message/common function)
2. The Poetic Function(aesthetic/rhythm/style/tone/style rather than practaical meaning)
3. The Emotive or Expressive Function ( Emotion/feelings/inner voice/attitude/emotionally
charged use of words)
4. The Conative Function ( influence/change the listener/ persuasive/to elicit a reaction
5. The Phatic Function ( established communicative medium)
6. The Metalingual or Reflexive Function ( about language usage and
practices/grammar/terms/
Study of Language
• Linguistics as a scientific study evolved only in the 20th C
• Before 20thC, Philology was commonly used for study of language
• Sir William Jones, Ferdinand de Saussure, Leonard Bloomfield contributed to the
evolution of Linguistics.
• Study of language was limited to codifying its grammar
• Panini (4th C BC) , Plato ( Greece 5th C BC)
• 20th C saw Sturctural Linguistics with Saussure, Bloomfield, Hockett and Jakobson.
• Saussure’s concept of Langue and Parole, Signifier and Signified
Modern Linguistics: Beginnings
• Saussure is considered as founding father of modern Linguistics and Semiology
• Course in General Linguistics (1916)
• “Language is a system of signs that expressed ideas” formed the base for modern
linguistics and semiotics.
• Structuralist such as Barthes, Lacan and Levis-Strauss adopted his ideas
• Langue ( Language in French) and Parole ( Speaking in French): two fundamental
concepts of Saussure. Langue stands for abstract , the pre-existing independent rules of
a system. Parole is the concrete manifestation of these rules, or Langue.
Branches of Linguistics
• Synchronic and Diachronic Linguistics
Synchronic: study of language at a given point of time.
Diachronic : study of language across time ( Old English, Middle English and Modern
English)
• Theoritical and Applied Linguistics
Theoritical linguitics looks at developing models of linguistic knowledge. Area of concern
are phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics
Applied lingguistcs-interdisplinary field of linguitics, relating language to the outside world.
• Major domains of Applied Linguistics include:
1. Bilingualism
2. Multilingualism
3. Second langauge acquisition
4. Language education
5. Stylistics
6. Pragmatics
7. Translation
Micro and Macro Linguistics:
Micro lingictics deals with the study of phonetics, morphology , synatx and semantics
Macro linguistics deals with language and other aspects. For e.g., psycholinguistics,
sociolinguistics, Neurolinguistics, Applied linguistics
Areas of Linguistics Analysis
• Phonetics
• The branch of linguistics that studies speech sounds.
• Articulatory phonetics: studies the production of speech sounds
• Studies in Ancient India-discussed in Panini’s work
• “Ashtadhyayi”--concise and highly complex set of approximately 4,000
sutras (aphoristic rules) that describe Sanskrit grammar.
• Phonation--the production or utterence of sounds
• Phonetician--specializes in the study of speech sounds
• Dialectologist-studies the regional differences in the speech sounds
• IPA ( International Phonectic Association)--a standardized representation
of spoken sounds
• IPA-was formed in 1886 by a group of French and British language
teachers, led by French linguist Paul Passy.
• A Phone is any distnict speech sound that is uttered
• A Phoneme is the minimal contrastive unit of speech sound
• Allophones are variations of single phonemes. For e.g/ p/ is realized
differently in Pin, Spin, Stop-- /l/ black and like
• A vowel is produced by a continuation air stream. It forms the nucleus of a
syllable
• A consonant is produced with a complete or partial blocking of air stream
• A diphthong is a combination of two vowel sounds (A glide)
Morphology
• The study of words ( formation, structure and relationships to other words)
• Morphological typology looks at classification of languages based on their
use of words
• Lexicology study of how words make up the vocabulary of a language
• Morpheme: a meaningful morphological unit of a language that cannot be
divided further. Eg, “accept” and “able” ( “unacceptable” is the word)
• Morphemes--considered as the smallest unit of grammar and thus, the
foundation of syntax and language.
• Allomorph: is a varient form of a morpheme. E.g. the allomorphs of plural
morphemes is English are {s}, {es}
There are two types of morphemes:
• Free morphem and Bound morpheme
• Free morphemes occur indepednetenly, with own meaning E.g {book},
{pick}
• Bound morphemes are added to a word to acquire meaning. E.g. {s}. {ed},
{un}
• Roots: A root word is the base word or stem to which affixes are added
• Affixes: A Bound morpheme which is attached to another morpheme or a
combination of morphemes
• Derivational bound morphemes create new words or change the word class.
E.g.-ness when added to the adjective “happy” creates a new word
“happiness”, which is a noun.
• Inflectional bound morphemes merely change the word form.E.g. “s”when
added to “book” will give “books”, and both the words are nouns.
Common methods of word formation
• Affixation: formation of new word by adding an affix to a root
morpheme. The most common method of word formation (
Glad-ly , In-correct)
• Compounding: A new word is formed by combining two or more
root morphemes. E.g. Cupcake, postbox, email
• Blending: Two words are merged to form a new word. These
words are known as “portmanteau words” or “blends”. E.g.
“netiquette”, “motel”, “brunch”, “smog”
• Clipping: One part of the word is clipped and the remaining is
used as an independent word. E.g. “Lab” from “laboratory”,
“bus” from “omnibus”.
• Conversion: Words are converted from one word class to another,
sometimes with the help of affixes, at other times simply by using
them differently. E.g. “Google” was initially a noun, now it is used
as a verb. Noun-Verb- “email -to email, google -to google, host-to
host. Microwave-Microwaved her/his lunch.
• Neologism: New creations. Sometimes new words are created and
are accepted into mainstream vocabulary. E.g. Webinar,
Gender-Neutral, Facebook, Meme, Cyberspace, Mini-moon,
Social-distancing, Staycation, Oxbridge
Word Formation
Morpheme is a short segement of language that meets three criteria:
1. It is a word or a part of a word that has meaning.
2. It cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts without violation of its
meaning.
3. It recurs in different verbal enviroments with a realtively stable meaning.
Inflectional suffixes-
Derivational suffixes
Morpholgical Analysis
1. Unknowingly:
Affix: Un
Base: knowingly
Base: Knowing
Affix:-ly
Stem (root) know
Affix:-ing
2. Destabilisation:
Base: destabilise
Suffix: -atio
Prefix: de
Base: stabilise
Stem (root): stable
Suffix: ise
Structure of Words
As per the view of morpheme constituents, there are mainly three types of
words: Simple words, Complex words, and Compound Words
Simple: They consist of a single free morpheme followed, or not, by an
inflectional suffix, e,g. play, plays, stronger.
Complex Words: They consist of a base and a derivational affix, e.g.
goodness, enable, boyhood, determination.
Compound Words: They consist of two (or more) free stems which are
independent words by themselves. e.g. over-ripe, happ-go-lucky,
playground, toothbrush, brainstorm,
Personalities:
Stem: Personality
Inflection : s/es
Stem: Personal
Suffix: ity
Stem: Person
Suffix: al
Enlightenment:
Stem: enlighten
Suffix: ment
Stem: lighten
Prefix: en
Stem: light
Suffix:en
Indian English
• A general term that applies to any variety of English, spoken in any part of
India.
• No uniformily consistent standard Indian English spoken all over the
country (Syal and Jindal)
• Engage in RP of UK
• Dr. R.K Bansal ( CIEFL, Hyderabad ) made an attempt to evolve an Indian
variety of English known as GIE ( General Indian English)
• Examples: bed tea( morning tea), hill station ( hill resort), bus stop ( bus
station ), biodata ( curriculum vitae)
• No standard dictionary available so far for any GIE
• Indian English stands for mixed language made up of several regional
varieties ( in respect of sound, syntax, or uage ) English
Pidgin language :
Is a special language with a very limited vocabulary and limited
structures, used for purpose like trade,etc. by those people who have
no common language between themselves. Such pidgin languages
have come up to be used at several places where speakers of two
different langauages meet for specific purposes.
Eg: I go go market ( Camoroon pidgin), I chowchow for eat (
Chinese pidgin) , plenty man for many men ( Melanesian pidgin)
Creole:
When a pidgin language comes to be used for a long period by a community
as a whole and it develops its own vocabulary and structures, it becomes a
Creole. It is the product of two different languages originally used by speakers.
It becomes a new structured system, though it may still not be used in very
formal contexts. Eg. Zozo for bird, fingafoot for toe, pikin for child.
Eg; Mi zab mia lingua ( I know how to speak language) Mix of Portuguese,
Tamil and Sighala elements.
Dialect :
The variety of a language according to user is called Dialect. It is determined
by a speaker’s social and geographical background. In Britain, there are
numerous dialects of English according to the area where these are spoken,
e.g, the Lancashire dialect, the Scottish dialect, the Yorkshire dialect . The
same is true of American English too.
Sociolect:
A Social dialect or a class dialect used by the memebrs of a particular group of
a speech community is called Sociolect. For example, slang, used by young
people, socio-economic group, professionals etc.
Diaglossia:
Sometimes a speech community uses two dialects, but there is a strong
tendency to use one of these for special, prestigious or formal occasions. This
prestigious dialect is called high, and the informal, commonly spoken dialect is
called low. These two are not allowed to intermingle. Such a use of two dialects
by a speech commmunity is called Diaglossia
Idiolect:
Within a given dialect one may find differences of speech between individuals.
No two speakers speak exactly alike. The term idiolect is used to refer to the
idiosyncracies of an individual speaker.
Register:
The same indvidual uses different varieties of a language depending upon the
situation. This language according to the situation is called Register.
Key Concepts in Syntax ( Analysis)
My best friend loves reading interesting novels.
The dog barked loudly at the stranger.
He drove the shiny red car through the narrow lane.
Her dress, decorated with beautiful patterns, was stunning.
The children played happily under the tree.
The tall building in the city center has a glass facade.
Sentence Patterns
Subject +Verb:
John reads
Fire burns
The moon is shining
The Sun rose
He is reading
Subject +verb+subject complement
This is a book
She became a professor
That book is mine
My teacher looks angry
The children kept quiet
Subject +verb+direct object:
I know his name
The teacher has lost his novel
Who broke the glass?
We should help the poor
Subject+verb+indirect object +direct object:
The teacher gave us homework.
He paid him the salary.
The teacher told us the whole story.
You must tell the lawyer the truth.
Subject+verb+direct object+preposition+prepositional object
She made coffee to all of us.
He informed the news to everybody in the class.
The teaacher gave books to all of us.
I lent my novel to a friend of mine.
Subject +verb+preposition +prepositional object:
We are waiting for John.
These books belong to Sita.
He succeed in his attempt.
Subject+verb+to-infinitive
She wants to go.
I prefer to travel in train.
We would like to visit the museum.
William proposes to go into business.
He hopes to travel the world.
This project attempts to study the relevance of childrens literature.
I must remeber to pay the bill.
Word: like, refuse, promise, prefer, remember, hope, wish, propose, intent,
agree, forget, try, attempt..e.g,
Subject+verb+noun/pronoun+to infinitive:
The doctor ordered Ravi to take rest
Who taught you to read the classics.
I would like you to stay.
He helped her to complete the project.
Subject+verb+gerund (object of the verb)
She loves dancing.
He has finished reading the novel.
John loves teaching linguistics and literature.
He enjoys playing cricket.
Verbs: enjoy, practice, try, keep, start,avoid, delay, love, like, stop etc.
