Linguistics

Language as Social 1

Some Linguistic Background Week 1 - Wednesday

Linguistics 1000

Announcements

■ Has everyone received emails from me? (If not, check your MyCUinfo email address)

■ All exercises now posted on Canvas. Each is in the folder for the week it’s due. – There are 13 total; you chose 10. – Look at them sooner rather than later. – Mark the ones you like/don’t like!

Language Acquisition

■ Humans are programmed to do language. ■ A child with normally functioning cognitive abilities, who

is exposed to language, will acquire it.

■ This is no easy task! – Not just memorizing vocabulary and a few structures

(e.g., subject-verb-object word order) – Very complex!

Stuff you know…that you don’t know that you know...

Stuff you know…that you don’t know that you know...

Now there are two of them. There are two _____. wugs

Stuff you know…that you don’t know that you know... § What does “gonna” mean?

§ The snow is going to melt. (future time) § The snow is gonna melt.

§ He is going to school. (directional motion) § *He is gonna school.

Stuff you know…that you don’t know that you know...

§ Tim kept his grades up all semester. § Tim kept up his grades all semester. § Tim kept them up all semester.

§ *Tim kept up them all semester. L

Five facts about language 1. All spoken languages change over time

2. All spoken language are equal in terms of linguistic potential

3. Grammaticality and communicative effectiveness are distinct and independent issues.

4. Written language and spoken language are historically, structurally, and functionally fundamentally different creatures.

5. Variation is intrinsic to all spoken language at every level, and much of that variation serves an emblematic purpose.

Five facts about language 1. All spoken languages change over time

2. All spoken language are equal in terms of linguistic potential

3. Grammaticality and communicative effectiveness are distinct and independent issues.

4. Written language and spoken language are historically, structurally, and functionally fundamentally different creatures.

5. Variation is intrinsic to all spoken language at every level, and much of that variation serves an emblematic purpose.

(1) All spoken languages change

■ You don’t speak like Shakespeare! – ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ – Thou/Thee/Ye for you – Fear not! (post-verbal negation) – ‘Tis nobler…’ – Knowest, dost (cf. know, do)

(1) All spoken languages change

(1) All spoken languages change

■ Meanings change too, as well as what’s ‘in vogue’. – Groovy! – Radical! – Cat (=a man) – Twenty-three skidoo! (=a quick departure) – Obvi/Totes!

(1) All spoken languages change

(1) All spoken languages change

■ Interesting generation-to-generation shift: ‘hook up’

■ What does this phrase mean to you?

Schitt’s Creek and “Hooking up”

(1) All spoken languages change

§ 2013 American Dialect Association’s ‘Word of the Year’:

Because “This past year, the very old word because exploded with new grammatical possibilities in informal online use,” Zimmer said.

“No longer does because have to be followed by of or a full clause. Now one often sees tersely worded rationales like ‘because science’ or…‘because awesome’.”

(1) All spoken languages change

§ 2017 American Dialect Association’s ‘Word of the Year’:

Fake news “…as best representing the public discourse and preoccupations of the past year”

Other nominations: alternative facts, antifa, take a knee, shooketh, blockchain and #Metoo.

(1) All spoken languages change

■ Lots of people have opinions about language change…usually that it shouldn’t change!

■ These damn kids! They don’t speak proper English!

Five facts about language 1. All spoken languages change over time

2. All spoken language are equal in terms of linguistic potential

3. Grammaticality and communicative effectiveness are distinct and independent issues.

4. Written language and spoken language are historically, structurally, and functionally fundamentally different creatures.

5. Variation is intrinsic to all spoken language at every level, and much of that variation serves an emblematic purpose.

(2) All languages have equal expressive potential ■ Can be tempting to compare English to an indigenous

language in the Brazilian rainforest and say English is more ’advanced’.

■ Although cultural/technological environments are certainly different, there’re aren’t ‘primitive’ vs. ‘advanced’ languages.

■ All languages can talk about the future, the past, hypothetical situations, different colors, etc.

(2) All languages have equal expressive potential ■ Compact words that English doesn’t have – Kummerspeck (German)

Excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally, grief bacon.

– Tartle (Scots) That panicky hesitation just before you have to introduce someone whose name you can't quite remember.

– Gigil (Tagalog) The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is irresistibly cute.

– Seigneur-terraces (French) Coffee shop dwellers who sit at tables a long time but spend little money.

(2) All languages have equal expressive potential ■ Compact

words that English doesn’t have – Layogenic

(Tagalog, Malaysian, Thai)