REVIEWER FOR WEEK 1-6 IN LINGUISTIC

WEEK 1 LINGUISTIC

Linguistics is the science of language, and linguists are scientists who apply the scientific method to questions about the nature and function of language.

Linguists conduct formal studies of speech sounds, grammatical structures, and meaning across all the world’s over 6,000 languages. They also investigate the history
of and changes within language families and how language is acquired when we are infants. Linguists examine the relationship between written and spoken language
as well as the underlying neural structures that enable us to use language.

“Polyglot” is the term used for a person who has knowledge of multiple languages. And although it is possible for a person to be both a linguist and a polyglot, it is
just as possible that a linguist speaks only one language.

Definition of Language by different scholars

Aristotle
Speech is the representation of the experience of the mind. That is according to Aristotle, language is a speech sound produced by human beings to express their ideas,
emotions, thoughts, desires and feelings.

Saussure
Language is an arbitrary system of signs constituted of the signifier and signified. In other words, language is first a system based on no logic or reason. Secondly, the
system covers both objects and expressions used for objects. Thirdly objects and expressions are arbitrarily linked. And finally, expressions include sounds and
graphemes used by humans for generating speech and writing respectively for communication.

Sapir
According to Sapir, language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions, and desires through a system of voluntarily produced
sounds.
The definition of Sapir expresses that language is mainly concerned with only human beings and constitutes a system of sounds produced by them for communication.

Bloomfield

The totality of the utterances that can be made in a speech community is the language of that speech community.
Bloomfield’s definition of language focuses on the utterances produced by all the people of a community, and hence overlooks writing. Besides, he stresses form, not
meaning, as the basis of language.

Bloch and Trager

Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky says the language is the inherent capability of the native speakers to understand and form grammatical sentences. A language is a set of (finite or
infinite) sentences, each finite length and constructed out of a finite set of elements. This definition of language considers sentences as the basis of a language.
Sentences may be limited or unlimited in number, and are made up of only limited components.

Derbyshire
Derbyshire says the language is undoubtedly a kind of means of communication among human beings. It consists primarily of vocal sounds. It is articulatory,
systematic, symbolic and arbitrary.
This definition of Derbyshire clearly utters, language is the best source of communication. It also portrays how human language is formed and what are the
fundamental principles of language.

Lyons
According to Lyons, languages are the principal systems of communication used by particular groups of human beings within the particular society of which they are
members. Especially Lyons points out that language is the best communicative system of human beings by particular social groups.

Wardhaugh
A language is a system of arbitrary vocal sounds used for human communication. This definition of language by Wardhaugh mainly insists on arbitrariness, vocal
sounds, humans and communication.

Patanjali
Indian linguist Patanjali utters, language is that human expression that is produced by different speech organs of human beings. Through speech organs, humans
produce several expressions which are converted to language.

LANGUAGE:DEFINITION, NATURE, CHARACTERISTICS

Curriculum is a structured set of intended learning outcomes that come in the form of knowledge, skills and value; affected by important factors of program
philosophy, goals, objectives, and evaluation.

Language is a system of words or signs that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other.
NATURE-basic constitution of a person or thing.

1. Language is a combination of sounds.

CHARACTERISTICS- A feature that helps to identify, tell apart, or describe recognizably;a distinguishing mark or trait.

1. Language is dynamic.
2. Language has levels.
3. Language is creative and unique.
4. Language is a means of communication.
5. Language identifies culture.
6. Language is arbitrary.

Languages are said to be arbitrary because there is no necessary or natural relationship between the words of a given language and the concepts that they represent.
Also, languages are arbitrary because the rules for the combination of signs in order to produce complete thoughts are different from one language to the other, and no
set of rules can claim to be the "right" one.

SOME REASONS FOR THE GROWTH AND DECLINE OF LANGUAGE:

Changing societal needs, Erosion of old customs, Call for elegance

An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out or shift to speaking another language. Language loss occurs when the
language has no more native speakers, and becomes a "dead language".

Yuchi (Euchee) is the language of the Yuchi people living in the southeastern United States, including eastern Tennessee, western Carolinas, northern Georgia and
Alabama, in the period of early European colonization. However, speakers of the Yuchi language were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma in the early 19th century.

An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, or that is no longer in current use.

Dead languages are still known and used in special contexts in written form. A dead language may remain in use for scientific, legal, or ecclesiastical functions. Old
Church Slavonic,Classical Armenian, Avestan, Coptic, Biblical Hebrew, New Testament Greek, Ge'ez, Ardhamagadhi, Pali, Sanskrit and Latin are among the many
dead languages used as sacred languages.

THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE

The Theories

•Divine creation • Natural evolution •Invention/imitation hypotheses: •“ding-dong” hypothesis •“pooh-pooh” hypothesis •“bow-wow” hypothesis
•“ta-ta” hypothesis

Necessity Theories of Language Invention

• Warning hypothesis •“yo-he-ho” hypothesis • Lying hypothesis

Divine Creation of Language

Many societies throughout history believed that language is a gift of the gods to humans: Genesis 2:20 “Adam gave names to all living

creatures.” Humans were created from the start with an innate capacity to use language. This capacity is complex – there are NO PRIMITIVE LANGUAGES!! Nor
have there ever been – even among the most remote tribes today or of stone-age hunter-gatherers!

Natural Evolution Hypothesis

Humans evolved a Language Acquisition Device .The simple vocalizations and gestures inherited from or primitive ancestors quickly gave way to a creative system of
language – perhaps in a single generation or two due to a genetic mutation that produced advantageous results. One theory suggests this perhaps gave Homo sapiens an
advantage over Homo neanderthalis, whose vocalizations were limited by a less developed vocal tract. Studies of Neanderthal skulls indicate that they were only able to
produce fricative sounds, like /f/ and /v/. “Homo loquens' ' – the speaking human!

Invention Hypotheses
“Ding-Dong” – humans named objects, actions and phenomena after a recognizable sound associated with it. The first human words were a type of ICON, a sign
whose form is an exact image of its meaning:

Boom = explosion (English), Tun-tun = heart (Chinook Indian), Ai-ai = knife (Basque, literally “ouch-ouch”)

“bow-wow” – human vocabulary developed from animal noises, e.g., Moo, hiss, quack, meow, etc.

Onomatopoeia: lit. “name-sound” the imitation of a sound in naming. Drawbacks: Limited part of vocabulary. Different from language to language: Russian ba-bakh =
bang; bukh = thud

“pooh-pooh” Hypothesis: humans’ first words were derived from spontaneous expressions of dislike, hunger, pain, or pleasure. Ha-ha-ha, wah-wah. Problems: Very
small parts of any language. Differ from language to language: English ouch; Russian oi; Cherokee eee, Basque ai. Made with intake of breath, which is the opposite of
normal talking.

“ta-ta” Hypothesis. Charles Darwin theorized that speech may have developed as a sort of mouth pantomime – the organs of speech were used to imitate the gestures of
the hand. The first words were lip icons of hand gestures. Same problem as for onomatopoeia – different gestures in different cultures: crossing fingers for good luck in
English versus Russian “fig”gesture; nodding “no” in Greek versus “yes” in English. Even Darwin himself thought this was a little implausible.

“Necessity is the mother of invention”

Warning Hypothesis. Language evolved from the warning signals used by animals. Perhaps language started with a warning sound to others, that signified “HELP!”
or “RUN!” to alert other members to the approach of a lumbering hairy mammoth or hungry saber-tooth tiger. Other first words could have been hunting instructions.

“yo-he-ho” Hypothesis: Language developed on the basis of human cooperation. The earliest language was chanting to stimulate collective effort, like moving a great
stone to block off a cave entrance from roving carnivores, or repeating a war phrase over and over to inflame the fighting spirit. Poetry Working song!

The “Lying” Hypothesis: Sturtevant argued that since all our real intentions or emotions get involuntarily expressed by gesture, look, or sound, voluntary
communication must have been invented in order to lie or deceive. He believed that the need to deceive and lie – to use language in contrast to reality for selfish ends –
was the social prompting that got language started. Seems pretty far-fetched.

The human larynx, or “voice box,” which contains the vocal cords, is in a lower position in humans than in primates, creating a longer cavity called the pharynx.

The pharynx is like a big echo chamber above the vocal cords for volume and clarity of sound. Unfortunate outcome: we can now choke on.

Linguistic Diversity

Language is a relatively recent phenomena: Early humans first appeared 150,00 years ago. Language first appeared 50,000 years ago. All of the original first languages
have disappeared. Many more languages were spoken in the past because humans lived in small tribes(lots of different languages) rather than in large states (with one
common language).

Monogenesis: mono = “one”, genesis = “birth”. There was a single, original language spoken by a single oup of Homo sapiens as early as 50,000 years ago which gave
rise to all human languages spoken on earth today. The Mother Tongue Hypothesis – this original language diverged through time and distance to form many different
languages. All of today’s languages descended from this one language. Out of Africa Theory – General theory of human origin arising in Africa; language may have
arisen here as well.

Comparative and Anthropological Linguistics

Comparative linguists try to trace the original mother tongue (or tongues). Scholars compare modern languages and try to reconstruct ancient ones. Anthropological
linguists see language as a window into the past. Language changes much more slowly than the environment in which it is spoken, so you can learn a lot about the
cultural history of the people who speak a language.

Macro Skills

A. ORAL SKILLS

1. Listening-Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process. There are three common modes of listening:
competitive, passive and active.

2. Speaking-Speaking is done through the vocalization of human communication. Speaking depends on the context wherein communication will take place. Speaking
can be formal or informal.

B. LITERACY SKILLS

1. Reading-Reading comprehension involves decoding symbols with the intention of deriving meaning from the text. This can be used for sharing knowledge, for
self-development or simply for relaxation.

2. Writing-Writing is the process of using symbols to communicate thoughts and ideas in a readable form. Writing allows for a more meaningful and in-depth
transmission of ideas compared to speaking. Follow the writing process:1) prewriting 2) drafting 3)revising 4) proofreading 5)publishing

3. Viewing-Refers to the ability to perceive meaning from visual images and presentations. Process that supports oracy and literacy. Broadens the ways in which
students can understand and communicate their ideas non verbal communication.

Ways to represent ideas visually: Drawings, Photographs, Organizational graphs and charts, Videos, Multimedia, WebPages – and web based correspondence.

Types of Viewing:

Visual Literacy-Ability to interpret meaning from visual images (Georgis, 1999). Ability to construct effective visuals in order to convey ideas to others (Valmont,
2003; Heinich, 1999).

Critical Viewing-Ability to carefully comprehend and evaluate information presented by visual media. Ability to think critically about the composition of the picture.

Communicative Competence

A. Communicative Competence

“The ability to function in a truly communicative setting.” Not limited to linguistic forms. Social rules and context. Coined by Dell Hymes

B. Dell Hymes-language and social context, -oral narratives. He says... “...a normal child acquires knowledge of sentences not only as grammatical, but also as
appropriate. He or she acquires competence as to when to speak, when not, and as to what to talk about with whom, when, where, in what manners. In short, a child
becomes able to accomplish a repertoire of speech acts, to take part in speech events, and to evaluate their accomplishment by others.”(Hymes 1972, 277)

5 Components

1. Linguistic/Grammatical Competence- Knowledge of language code: Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Lexicon

2. Sociolinguistic Competence-Knowledge of socio-cultural use of the language

3. Cultural Competence- Awareness and sensitivity to others culture and tradition. Setting, Topic, Taboos

4. Discourse Competence-Knowledge of producing , comprehending , combining oral and written language: Organizing words, phrases, sentences.

5. Strategic Competence-Ability to recognize, adjust and repair verbal and non verbal communication errors: Paraphrasing, Shifting, Avoidance

S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G MODEL

1. Setting and Scene- Physical circumstances. When and where communication take place Ex: Hearing in the court; simple class discussion

2. Participants- Speaker and audience. Ex: friends, business tycoons

3. Ends-Purposes, goals and outcomes. Ex: to persuade, to inform.

4. Act Sequence-Form and order of event. Ex: begin-middle-end

5. Key-Tone, manner or spirit. Ex: lively,serious

6. Instrumentalities-Forms and styles of speech. Ex: informal, formal

7. Norms- Social rules Ex: Do’s and Don’ts

8. Genre-Kind of speech act or event. Ex: anecdotes to entertain or to give moral lessons.

Lyle Bachman 1990- Language Competence Grammatical and Discourse (Textual) Functional (Illocutionary) and Sociolinguistic Strategic.

John Gumperz-“Communicative competence is going beyond mere description of language patterns”

James Cummins-CALP- Cognitive/Academic Language Proficiency School oriented language- Context Reduced BICS- Basic Interpersonal CommunicationSkillsFace
to face communication- Context Embedded. Basically, greatly developing one’s macro skills promotes communicative competence.The macro skills play a key role in
fostering learners' communicative competence since they are the manifestations of interpreting and producing a spoken or written piece of discourse as well as a way of
manifesting the rest of the components of the communicative competence construct.
 WEEK 2 LINGUISTIC

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE LEARNING

1. Plato’s Problem

The writings of Plato stretch all the way back to the beginnings of Western philosophical thought, but Plato was already posing problems critical to modern linguistic
discourse.

In the nature versus nurture debate, Plato tended to side with nature, believing that knowledge was innate.

This was his answer to what has become known as Plato’s Problem, or as Bertrand Russell summarizes it: “How comes it that human beings, whose contacts with the
world are brief and personal and limited, are nevertheless able to know as much as they do know?” Being born with this knowledge from the get-go would naturally
solve this little quandary and consequently he viewed language as innate.

2. Cartesian Linguistics, by Descartes

Centuries later, the French philosopher Descartes took a crack at linguistic philosophy. In his opinion, language acquisition was a simple and easy process, barely
worthy of his attention. Like Plato he believed in the innateness of language because he thought it reflected the general rationality of human beings. But rather than
Descartes himself, it was the rationalist movement that he symbolized and that was thriving in the time period when he lived that was most important for linguistics.
This “Cartesian” movement, according to Chomsky (who we’ll get to later), noted the creativity involved in everyday language and presented the idea that there were
universal principles behind every language.

3. Locke’s Tabula Rasa

Most people familiar with Locke’s philosophy have heard of his concept of tabula rasa, or the blank slate. To state it briefly and in a simplified manner, this is the idea
that all knowledge comes from outside ourselves through sensory experience rather than through innate knowledge that we have at birth. This naturally carried over to
language theory with Locke rejecting the idea that there was an innate logic behind language. Obviously these theories don’t touch too much on the practical, everyday
level of language learning. They’re far less detailed and more philosophical than the modern scientific theories were used to. But they have important implications. If
Plato and the Cartesians are right, then the emphasis in language learning must lie on what we already know, using our innate abilities to come to an understanding of
the particularities of a specific language. If Locke is right, then we must focus our attention on sensory input, gaining as much external input as possible.

4. Skinner’s Theory of Behaviorism

In the middle of the 20th century, B.F. Skinner took Locke’s ideas of sensory input and ran with them. According to behaviorism, a radical variant of which was put
forward by Skinner, all behavior is no more than a response to external stimuli and there’s no innate programming within a human being to learn a language at birth.
What differentiates Skinner from those who came before him is the level of detail he went into when connecting behaviorism and language learning. In his concept of
what he called “operant conditioning,” language learning grew out of a process of reinforcement and punishment whereby individuals are conditioned into saying the
right thing. For instance, if you’re hungry and you’re able to say “Mommy, I’m hungry,” you may be rewarded with food and your behavior will thereby be reinforced
since you got what you wanted. To put it another way, Skinner described a mechanism for language learning that hadn’t existed before on the tabula rasa side of the
language acquisition debate. What this means for us as language learners, should his theory be even partially true, is that a process of conditioning must be achieved
for us to succeed. When we say the right thing, we must be rewarded. When we say something incorrectly, that too must be made clear. In other words, we need
feedback to succeed as language learners.

5. Chomsky’s Universal Grammar

Around the same time as Skinner there came another linguistic powerhouse who would leave a lasting impression on the field of linguistics. Namely, Noam Chomsky.
The theory that Chomsky proposed would be called Universal Grammar and it would assert nearly the exact opposite of what Skinner had offered in his theory. Where
Skinner saw all learning coming from external stimuli, Chomsky saw an innate device for language acquisition. What Skinner understood to be conditioning
according to particular events, Chomsky understood to be the result of the universal elements that structure all languages. In fact, one of Chomsky’s major bones to
pick with Skinner’s theory had to do with Plato’s problem, as described above. After all, if Skinner is right, how is it that children can learn a language so quickly,
creating and understanding sentences they have never heard before? Universal Grammar has been around for roughly a half a century by now, so it’s hardly the last
word on the subject. It has also received plenty of criticism. One critique that particularly concerns us is that it may have little to do with learning a second language,
even if it’s how we learn a first language. There are certainly theories about applying this concept to organize syllabi for language learning, but this seems
unnecessarily complex for the average, independent learner. In short, while Chomsky’s theory may still be important in the linguistics field as part of an ongoing
discussion, it offers little help for learning a second language other than to provide you with the confidence that the grammar for all languages is already inside your
head. You just need to fill in the particulars.

6. Schumann’s Acculturation Model

John Schumann’s Acculturation Model describes the process by which immigrants pick up a new language while being completely immersed in that language. This
theory doesn’t deal with the process of language learning as we normally think of it (such as how we acquire grammar or listening skills), but rather focuses on social
and psychological aspects that influence our success. For instance, an immigrant is more likely to acquire their new target language if their language and the target
language are socially equal, if the group of immigrants is small and not cohesive and if there is a higher degree of similarity between the immigrant’s culture and that
of their new area of residence. The obvious takeaway is that language learning is not an abstract subject like physics that can be learned out of a book regardless of the
world around you. There are sociological factors at play, and the more we do to connect with the culture on the other end of our second language, the faster and easier
it will be for us to learn that language.
7. Krashen’s Monitor Model

Stephen Krashen’s Monitor Model in fact consists of several distinct hypotheses which make up what is probably the most cited theory in second language acquisition.
There’s so much to take away from Krashen’s theory that I’ll just let you peruse the link given for details and give a rundown of the highlights here. • Language
acquisition is subconscious and results from informal, natural communication. • Language learning is conscious and driven by error correction (more formal). •
Grammar structures are acquired in a predictable order. • Language acquisition occurs with comprehensible input (i.e. hearing or reading things that are just slightly
above our current language level). • A monitor is anything that corrects your language performance and pressures one to “communicate correctly and not just convey
meaning” (such as a language teacher who corrects you when you make a grammatical mistake). It should be noted that this is just Krashen’s theory. While this theory
is quite popular, there has been criticism and direct contradiction of certain parts of it (particularly his idea about the predictable order of grammar structures). Still, it’s
useful to get ideas for language learning.

5 THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

1. Daniel Everett’s Theory: Language Scratches the Communicative Itch

Picking up and using a language is something, inventing it from scratch is a whole nother thing. Here come the homo Erectus! The language phenomenon may not have
started with us, homo sapiens. According to linguist Daniel Everett, nearly two million years have passed since “homo Erectus” first started uttering meaningful
sounds. Homo erectus is considered the first human species, which also includes homo sapiens and Neanderthals. These early hominins had big brains, walked upright,
and were the first gatherer-hunters. They traveled in groups across the islands, and the ocean couldn’t get in their way. The Erectus needed language because they had
to communicate more complex ideas than just pointing to a mammoth to alert the hunting party. “You need communication with symbols, not just grunts,” says
Everett. “They accomplished too much for this to simply be the sort of communication that we see in other species without symbols.”Settlement evidence found on the
island of Flores, in Indonesia, suggests that the Erectus came together in groups — on rafts. They crossed strong currents surrounding the island. For that, they had to
paddle together and know when to stop. Homo erectus needed “words” to give commands and instructions. Homo erectus had a vocal apparatus similar to gorillas, so
they couldn’t make all the sounds we can make. Their linguistic capabilities were just enough to make them one of the most successful species to ever walk the Earth.
They roamed the face of the planet for over 2 million years. For as many as 350,000 years, we haven’t lived but about a sixth of the time.

2. Chomsky’s Nativist Linguistic Theory:

Universal Grammar Evertt’s work suggests that a language is a social tool that humans developed to communicate and share knowledge to solve problems. Linguist
Noam Chomsky, however, thinks language is innate. What is grammar? It is “The whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general, usually taken
as consisting of syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics.”For Chomsky, who formulated the concept of universal
grammar, language has a genetic component to it. The nativist linguistic theory postulates that every human being is born with innate language ability. Pioneered by
Chomsky, this theory suggests that a human baby’s brain comes to the world pre-equipped with language-learning systems. Chomsky thinks there could be a single
master language that served as the origin of all other languages. A child comes to the world with the prerequisites for language learning. Namely, a built-in tool
Chomsky calls the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). This brain device allows the child to acquire linguistic abilities rapidly. Worth noting, Chomsky’s LAD is a
hypothetical concept. There’s no brain region recognized as such by neuroscientists.

3. B.F. Skinner Behaviorist Theory

The innatist, or nativist theory, attributes the emergence of language as a neural mutation that occurred way back in a single individual. Everett thinks it was born from
a more social necessity, slowly shaped by many individuals. This means there’s no universal grammar shared between all languages and from which they take their
linguistic cues. The notion of universal grammar and the innateness of the language faculty is also opposed to the behaviorist concept of language. It’s American
behaviorist and psychologist B.F. Skinner who developed the behaviorist theory of language acquisition. This theory suggests that learning a language is much like
learning any new skill through observation, imitation, repetition, errors, rewards, and punishments. Or what Skinner calls Operant Conditioning. Behavior theorists
posit that language development is a learned behavior. When babies first speak, they are trying to imitate the behavior of their parents and adults around them. A
language would develop as responses to stimuli from the environment. Hugging the baby for his or her first word is a reward that pushes them further on the learning
curve. Kids in school could get either rewarded or punished for their language learning acquisition process. However, Chomsky isn’t a fan of the behaviorist theory
because he claims it doesn’t address syntactic acquisition.

4. Vygotsky’s Social Interactionist Theory

The social interactionist theory is based on the work of Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky. The basic notion of this theory is that language has a social origin. In that
regard, it has some similarities with Everett’s model. This concept suggests that the child, from birth, is continually engaging in social interactions, which allows him to
develop higher cognitive functions, namely language, and thought. According to Vygotsky’s social development model, socio-cultural interactions come first, then
cognition and language development.

5. Piaget’s Constructivist Theory

For Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, language is not only due to genetic predisposition or imitation Piaget’s constructivist theory argues that language is constructed
by following cognitive development. In other words, people develop their language skills and construct overall knowledge based on their own experience. Beyond just
language development, Piaget’s theory focuses on understanding the nature of intelligence itself. He defines four stages that cognitive development goes through:

• Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years • Preoperational stage: 2 to 7 years • Concrete operational stage: 7 to 11 years • Formal operational stage: 12 and up

We have barely scratched the surface here. There are several other theories, each with its unique approach. Like languages themselves, thoughts on them may overlap
and cross-fertilize.

Communicative Competence-is a term in linguistics which refers to a language user’s grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology and the like,as well
as social knowledge about how and when to use utterances appropriately.
5 Subcategories Communicative Competence

Grammatical competence- the ability to recognize and produce the distinctive grammatical structures of a language and to use them effectively in communication.

Discourse competence- the ability we have to connect sentences in stretches of discourse and to form a meaningful whole out of a series of utterances.

Sociolinguistic competence-the ability to interpret the social meaning of the choice of linguistic varieties and to use language with the appropriate social meaning for
the communication situation.

Strategic competence-the manner of manipulating language in order to meet communicative goals.Used to compensate for communication disruption caused by lack of
communicative competence and to strengthen communicative effects.

Cognitive / academic language proficiency (CALP)- a language-related term which refers to formal academic learning. used to discuss the language proficiency
levels of students who are in the process of acquiring a new language.

Basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS)-language skills needed to interact in social situations, primarily to context-bound, face-to-face communication.

Michael Halliday’s 7 Functions of Language

Instrumental Function: To get what we want,to satisfy needs or desires

Regulatory Function: To control the behavior of others,to get them to do what we want to do.

Representational (informational) Function :To communicate information,to report facts of conclusions from facts

Interactional Function: To establish and define social relationship

Personal Function: To express individuality and personality

Heuristic Function: To explore the environment, to acquire knowledge and understanding

Imaginative Function: To create a word of one’s own

5 Basic Components of Language

Phonetics and Phonology-Phonetics is the study of individual speech sounds; phonology is the study of phonemes, which are the speech sounds of an individual
language. These two heavily overlapping subfields cover all the sounds that humans can make, as well as which sounds make up different languages. A phonologist
could answer the question, “Why do BAT and TAB have different meanings even though they are made of the same three sounds, A, B and T?”

Morphology-Morphology is the study of words and other meaningful units of language like suffixes and prefixes. A morphologist would be interested in the
relationship between words like “dog” and “dogs” or “walk” and “walking,” and how people figure out the differences between those words.

Syntax-Syntax is the study of sentences and phrases, or how people put words into the right order so that they can communicate meaningfully. All languages have
underlying rules of syntax, which, along with morphological rules, make up every language’s grammar. An example of syntax coming into play in language is “Eugene
walked the dog” versus “The dog walked Eugene.” The order of words is not arbitrary—in order for the sentence to convey the intended meaning, the words must be in
a certain order.

Semantics -Semantics, most generally, is about the meaning of sentences. Someone who studies semantics is interested in words and what real-world object or concept
those words denote, or point to.It is the study of meaning.It focuses on the relation between signifiers, likewords, phrases, signs, and symbols, and what they stand for;
their denotation.

Pragmatics-Pragmatics is an even broader field that studies how the context of a sentence contributes to meaning—for example, someone shouting “Fire!” has a very
different meaning if they are in charge of a seven-gun salute than it does if they are sitting in a crowded movie theater.

Supra-segmental phoneme-refers to how you say what you say. It involves phenomena such as intonation, stress, and pitch.

WEEK 3 LINGUISTIC

The Inner Circle, theOuter Circle, and the Expanding Circle.

The Inner Circle presents the countries where English is used as a nativelanguage and as a first language among people. These countries include the USA, the UK,
Canada, Australia, andNew Zealand.
The Outer Circle includes countries that have old historical British colonial relations and where English is commonly used in social life or the government sectors.
Most of the countries that belong to this circle are former colonies of the British Empire, such as India, Malaysia, Singapore, Ghana, Kenya, and others. The Usage of
English in these countries is similar to what is known as English as a second language.

The Expanding Circle, includes countries that introduce English as a foreign language in schools and universities,mostly for communicating in English with the Inner
and Outer Circles. Such countries include Turkey, SaudiArabia, The Emirates, Japan, China, Korea, and others.

WEEK 4 LINGUISTIC

Definition of Phonetics and Phonology

Phonetics and phonology are related, dependent fields for studying aspects of language. Phonetics is the study of sound in speech; phonology is the study (and use) of
sound patterns to create meaning. Phonetics focuses on how speech is physically created and received, including study of the human vocal and auditory tracts, acoustics,
and neurology. Phonology relies on phonetic information for its practice, but focuses on how patterns in both speech and non-verbal communication create meaning,
and how such patterns are interpreted. Phonology includes comparative linguistic studies of how cognates, sounds, and meaning are transmitted among and between
human communities and languages.

IPA-The most widely used system for representing the sounds of any language. A reproduction of the latest version of the International Phonetic Alphabet (2005) is
available at the website of the International Phonetic Association.
 WEEK 5 LINGUISTIC

American Consonant

English Consonant
 WEEK 6 LINGUISTIC

Suprasegmentals (or prosodics < Greek ‘sing with, accompanying’) are features that occur above the level of segments. They may extend over more than one
segment.

1. TONE: a pitch that has a phonemic role (= different meaning!) Tone language: A language in which differences in meaning can be signaled by differences in pitch.
e.g., Nupe (spoken in Nigeria),bá (high) ba¤ (mid) bà (low), ‘be sour’ ‘cut’ ‘count’

LEVEL or REGISTER TONES: Tones that do not change pitch (e.g., Nupe). CONTOUR TONES: Tones that change pitch on a single syllable. e.g. Mandarin ma¤
‘mother’ (high level),má ‘hemp’ (high rising), ma‡ ‘horse’ (low rising), mà ‘to scold’ (falling)

2. INTONATION: the pitch pattern in a sentence. Acoustic approach to intonation: it is concerned with the physical aspects of the pitch pattern Linguistic approach to
intonation: it concentrates on the correlation between pitch patterns and linguistic features, such as syntax and semantics.The part of a sentence over which a particular
pattern extends is called a tone group. Within the tone group there is usually a single syllable that stands out because it carries the major pitch change: TONIC
SYLLABLE (most prominent syllable).

3. STRESS: The property of a syllable: syllable prominence. It is related to the prominence of the syllable in relation to its neighbours. A stressed syllable is
pronounced with a greater amount of energy than an unstressed syllable. In English three levels of word stress need to be distinguished: a. primary (strongest) b.
secondary (medium) c. tertiary (weak) e.g. «criti »cize « exploi »tation Stressed syllables: a. may be longer b. may be louder c. the vowel may be more distinct (e.g.
«expla »nation) In English, the vowel in the unstressed syllable is [\] or [I] ↓ most common! explanation [\] criticism [I] Stress may have a grammatical role: «subject
(NOUN) sub«ject (VERB)

4. DURATION: the time that is needed for the articulation of a speech sound. Also, the duration of a segment is frequently conditioned by surrounding segments (see
later). Length: phonological term; it refers to distinctive duration. For example: Finish tuli ‘fire’ [u] tuuli ‘wind’ [u…] Geminates: long consonant Finnish: kuka ‘who’
[k] kukka ‘flower’ [k…] Gemination may arise also due to morphological processes: English unknown [n…] un- morphemes known

Intrinsic duration: The duration of a segment as determined by its phonetic quality. Intrinsic duration of vowels: a. tense vowels (longest) b. diphthongs c. lax vowels