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Introduction (1)

The document outlines the course HUL242-Fundamentals of Language Sciences, emphasizing the technical nature of the material and the importance of attendance and consistent work. It introduces key concepts in linguistics, including the scientific study of language, core subfields, and the structured nature of languages, particularly in morphology, syntax, and phonetics. The document also highlights the concept of Universal Grammar and the innate ability of humans to acquire language, setting the stage for future classes focused on phonetics.

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Ayush
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8 views

Introduction (1)

The document outlines the course HUL242-Fundamentals of Language Sciences, emphasizing the technical nature of the material and the importance of attendance and consistent work. It introduces key concepts in linguistics, including the scientific study of language, core subfields, and the structured nature of languages, particularly in morphology, syntax, and phonetics. The document also highlights the concept of Universal Grammar and the innate ability of humans to acquire language, setting the stage for future classes focused on phonetics.

Uploaded by

Ayush
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Where am I?

o Course: HUL242-Fundamentals of Language Sciences


o Week 1: Lecture-1, Introduction
o Thursday, January 2nd
About this course

➢ This is not an easy course. There is a lot of technical material


to master.
➢ Everything will be fine if you do not miss classes and do the
assigned readings.
➢ Consistent and regular work is required.
Tutorials

o Date & Time:


➢ Wednesday, 1-2 pm, & 2-3 pm
o Place:
➢ LH 604

o Note:
➢ Only two slots with a room with 60 seating capacity
➢ We will be assigned more TAs
➢ Finalize it by the next week.
Office Hours

➢ Monday and Thursday, 3:30 pm -4:30 pm


➢ Also, by an appointment: [email protected]
➢ Room: MS-620
5th floor, MS Building.
Humanities and Social Sciences Department (HSS)
“Linguistics”?

➢ Linguistics is the scientific study of human language.


“Science”?

o Richard Feynman, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics


in 1965, describes the scientific method
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYPapE-3FRw

o Science is:
➢ Data
➢ Hypothesis
➢ Consequences
Linguistics as a Science: Yes-no question in English

1. John is talking to a boy. Is John talking to a boy?

2. John is talking to the boy who is tall . Is John talking to the boy who is tall ?

3. The boy who is tall is talking to John. Is the boy who is tall talking to John?

o Data -> systematic observation of the data -> hypothesis -> experiment/testing
on more data -> if disagreement, then reformulation of the hypothesis ->
experiment/testing on more data -> if agreement, then rule/principle, theory.

o The scientific process is iterative, with results contributing to further refinement of


theories and hypotheses.
“Human language”?

o What do you know when you know a language?

o 5 areas of competence
➢ Sounds
➢ How to put those sounds together
➢ Words
➢ How to put words together to make a
phrase/sentence
➢ Meaning
Human Language Competence and Linguistics

o 5 core subfields of linguistics


➢ Phonetics: the study of sounds
➢ Phonology: the study of sound patterns
➢ Morphology: the study of word formation
➢ Syntax: the study of sentence structure
➢ Semantics: the study of meaning
Other subfields we will not get into
o Sociolinguistics -How people use languages in specific
social contexts.
o Historical linguistics- How languages change over time.
o Computational linguistics/Natural Language
Processing - How to model different aspects of language
with statistical and computational models.
o Neurolinguistics- how language lives in the brain.
o Psycholinguistics- psychology + linguistics; how language
is processed on-line
o Applied fields- speech pathology, education-language
teaching and learning and many more
Languages are structured: Morphology

o Forming plural in English


➢ cat -> cat-s
➢ dog -> dog-s

o Descriptive rule
➢ Root + plural suffix (s)

o Can the plural marker come before the word?


➢ No. *s+cat, *s+dog

o Asterisks is used to show “unacceptable”, “ungrammatical” constructions.


Languages are structured: Morphology

o Institute, -ion, -al, -ize, -ed

o Outcome
➢ Institutionalized
➢ *Institut(e)-al-ion-iz-ed
➢ *Institutet(e)-ion-iz-al-ed
➢ *Institut(e)-ion-al-ed-iz

o Morphemes are attached one before another, depending


on its function
Hierarchical structure
“unbuttonable”

o What does ‘un-button-able’ mean?

o It’s ambiguous:
➢ Can be unbuttoned
➢ Cannot be buttoned

13
Hierarchical structure: Two possible analysis
o Un-button-able has two valid structure

(a) Adj (b) Adj

un- Adj V -able

V -able un- V
button button

o The prefix un- can be attached to Adj (as in left structure) or Verb
(as in right structure).

14
Languages are structured: Syntax
o Noun phrases in English:
➢ Two old men
*old two men
*men two old
*men old two
➢ Correct order: Numeral -> Adjective ->Noun

o Sentences in English
➢ JohnSub sawverb MaryObj
*JohnSub MaryObj sawverb
➢ Correct order: Subject -> Verb -> Object
Languages are structured: Syntax

16
Ambiguity

o Stop for pedestrians in crosswalk.

o Stop for pedestrians in crosswalk.

17
Ambiguity

o Don’t worry about the tree yet. Don’t take it as official either (They’re
for illustration). This is where we will be headed. 18
Phonetics and Phonology
o We have intuitions about the sounds in our language.
o We can divide the sounds into consonants and vowels, for example.
➢ Three different sounds in “put”; two are consonants and one is
vowel.
o Is the vowel in “put” the same as in “but”?
➢ No!
o Is the first vowel sound in “women” the same as in “fin”?
➢ Yes!
Languages are structured: Phonetics and Phonology

o Word-initial two consonant cluster in English.


➢ Clasp /klæsp/– a word in English
➢ Clisp /klisp/– a “possible word” in English
➢ *Lkisp /lkisp/ – an “impossible word” in English

o The descriptive rule (i.e., generalization):


➢ The sequence of sounds “lk” cannot occur at the beginning of a
word in English.
Languages are structured: Phonetics and Phonology

o Word-initial three consonant cluster


➢ Spring / sprɪŋ/
➢ *Srping /srpiŋ/

o The descriptive rule: the sequence of sounds “srp” cannot occur


at the beginning of a word in English.

o But not all languages are so fussy. And some are more fussy! –Have
you notice my pronunciation of the word “Spring”?
Cross-linguistic facts
o An example from Hindi

Isko chhotaa chhotaa kaato actual sentence


this small small cut word by word *gloss*
"Cut this into very small pieces." translation into English

o How different from English?

➢ The object comes before the verb. English does not allow this word
order: (S)OV vs. (S)VO

➢ Intensificational meaning: An adjective can be reduplicated instead


of modifying the adjective with another adjective.
Cross-linguistic facts

o Hindi morphology and syntax are not similar to English


They are different from those of English.

o A linguist’s task
➢ to determine what the rules in the two languages are
such that a child learning English or Hindi learns that
language with equal ease.
Cross-linguistic facts: Universal Grammar (UG)
o How does a child learn a language (their native language) so easily and
so quickly without instruction?

o Noam Chomsky
➢ Human must have underlying principles that help them to acquire a
language easily and quickly.

➢ Humans are born with an innate ability to acquire languages and that
there are universal principles/rules that form the basis for language
acquisition across different cultures and languages.

➢ UG provides a sort of language template in our brains, making it


easier for us to grasp the grammar of the specific language we are
learning.
Next class

o We will start with Phonetics.

o Reading
➢ O’Grady, Williams, et al. (2010). Phonetics, in Contemporary
Linguistics. 6th edition. Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
(required)

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