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Survey of Linguistic Method and Theory

Explore linguistic competence, phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and linguistic knowledge in this course. Understand the diversity of world languages and the methods for their description.

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Survey of Linguistic Method and Theory

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  1. Survey of Linguistic Method and Theory Ling 400

  2. Instructor • Instructor: Prof. Toshiyuki Ogihara

  3. Today’s Plan • The course • Objectives and format • Sub-disciplines of Linguistics • Each sub-discipline and some examples • Competence vs. Performance • Linguistics aims to characterize the competence of native speakers (of a particular language) • Prescriptive / descriptive grammar • Linguists are interested in description, not prescription

  4. Word of the day competence

  5. Course Objectives • Methods for describing human languages at various levels • Examples of the diversity of world languages • Core areas: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics • Interdisciplinary areas: language acquisition, language variation

  6. Resources • Language Files 11th Edition, The Ohio State University Press (available from the University Bookstore).

  7. Evaluation • Grading: • quizzes (only six of the seven quizzes will count) 20% • homework assignments (only six of the seven assignments will count) 20% • midterm 25% • final exam 35%

  8. Linguistics Knowledge • Phonetics • Phonology • Morphology • Syntax • Semantics • Pragmatics

  9. Phonetics • The study of speech sounds • How various sounds are made (articulatory phonetics) • How to describe them using IPA (The International Phonetic Alphabet)

  10. Examples (Phonetics) • sign • cider • the same sound — should be transcribed (i.e. represented in writing) in the same way

  11. Phonology • The sound system of a language • Includes the inventory of sounds • The features of those sounds • The rules for combining the sounds

  12. Examples (Phonology) • pin • spin • The two “p sounds” are not really the same sounds. • [p] with an extra puff of air occurs at the beginning of a word (roughly) • [p] without a puff of air occurs elsewhere • So their occurrences in English are rule-governed.

  13. Morphology • The study of the structure of words • morph = ‘form’ (Greek) • The smallest units of meaning • Many words consist of smaller meaningful units

  14. Examples (Morphology) • Word formation quick+ly • Grammatical markers dog+s, turn+ed

  15. Syntax • The study of how words form sentences • Grammatical categories • Rules for sentence and phrase formation • Directionality of combination • Constraints on combinations

  16. Examples (Syntax) • John loves Mary. (grammatical) • Loves John Mary. (ungrammatical) • John Mary loves. (ungrammatical) • (A very rough first approximation) A string of words consisting of a name a verb and another name(in this order) is grammatical.

  17. Semantics • The study of meaning • Meaning of individual words and of their relations with one another. • The relation between syntax and semantics • How to talk about sentence meanings • Truth conditions, logical consequences

  18. Examples (Semantics) • John must smoke and John has to smoke mean the same thing (for all practical purposes). • John must not smoke means “John is obligated NOT to smoke.” • John does not have to smoke means “John is NOT obligated to smoke.”

  19. Pragmatics • The study of language use • Non-literal meanings • How to do things with words

  20. Examples (Pragmatics) • Can you teach phonology classes? • Yes, I can even teach graduate seminars. • Go ahead and give a lecture on phonology. • Can you pass the salt? • Yes, I can. In fact, I can even pass the pepper. (and do nothing) • …. (say nothing and just pass the salt)

  21. Word of the day competence

  22. Competence • (Unconscious) knowledge of language • Linguists are interested in describing this “internalized grammar” that any native speaker of a particular language has • Mental grammar • Accounts for creativity • Not always equal to performance • Performance behavior may be flawed

  23. You have hissed my mystery lecture — you have tasted the whole worm. Slips of the tongue (Spoonerism) You have missed my history lecture — you have wasted the whole term. Performance

  24. Creativity of language • Part of speaker’s competence • Use of finite linguistic means (words, rules) • Enables us to create/understand an infinite number novel phrases or sentences

  25. Descriptive grammar • Linguistics aims for description and not prescription • There are no good or bad languages • There are no “advanced” or “primitive” languages • No correct or incorrect dialects • Linguistics is non-judgmental about linguistic differences

  26. Prescription • “The widespread acceptance of informal dialogue on the Internet is creating a generation of Americans fluent in unrefined, inexpressive and immature English. Much as certain dialects of English have helped create sub-classes of second class citizens, frequent Internet users are becoming easier to pick out every day.”

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