Lesson 2

2. ExplainAnswer
True or
False?
Name
40
30
20
10 10
20
30
40
10
20
30
40
10
20
30
40

3. Three questions that
Linguistics tries to answer.
1) What is language?
2) How does language work?
3) How does human language
differ from animal
communication?

4. Main branches of Linguistics. (5)
1) Phonetics
2) Phonology
3) Morpho-syntax
4) Semantics
5) Pragmatics

5. Three differences between human
language and animal communication.
1) Connection between the signal
and the message sent.
2) Creativity
3) Patterning

6. 8 design features of language.
1) Use of sound signals
2) Arbitrariness
3) Need for learning
4) Duality
5) Displacement
6) Creativity
7) Patterning
8) Structure dependence

7. A linguist needs to speak all the
languages he/she studies.
False. Not necessarily.

8. Duality is the organization of
language in a layer of sounds
which combine into a layer of
larger units.
True

9. Linguistics is different from
traditional grammar in the sense
that linguists regard the spoken
language as primary, rather than
the written.
True

10. When animals vocally imitate human
utterances, they possess language.
False.
Even though animals are capable
of faithfully reproduce words
and phrases, their expressions
carry no meaning to them.

11. What's the design
feature displacement about?
It is about the ability to discuss
objects and events that are
removed in time and place.

12. How does Linguistics differ
from Traditional Grammar?
• Linguistics is descriptive, not
prescriptive.
• Linguistics regard the spoken language
as primary, rather than the written.
• Linguistics does not force languages
into a Latin-based framework.

13. What's one similarity between
human language and animal
communication?
They are both predestined to emerge.

14. What other branches (besides
phonetics, phonology, morpho-
syntax, semantics and pragmatics)
does Linguistics have? Mention at
least 3.
• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Applied linguistics
• Computational linguistics
• Stylistics
• Anthropological linguistics
• Philosophical linguistics

15. Consider these two statements:
"I learned a new word today."
"I learned a new sentence today.“
Do you think the two statements
are equally probable? If not, why?

16. A wolf is able to express subtle
gradations of emotion by different
positions of the ears, the lips and the
tails. There are eleven postures of the
tail that express self-confidence, lack
of tension, depression, defensiveness,
etc.
Suppose that there were a thousand
different emotions that the wolf could
express in this way.
Would you then say a wolf had a
language similar to human's? If not, why
not?

17. Although sounds and meaning of
most words in all languages are
arbitrarily related, there are some
communication systems in which
the "signs" unambiguously reveal
their "meaning".
Describe different signs that
directly show what they mean.

18. Can you think of other design
features of language that are
not mentioned?.

19. Historical LinguisticsHistorical Linguistics
Diachronic Linguistics
Comparative Linguistics
• Study of phonological, grammatical and semantic changes
• Reconstruction of early stages of language
• Application of methods to find genetic relationships among
languages

20. Sir William JonesSir William Jones
Father of Linguistics
1786
Indo-European Languages
Certain languages spoken from India to the European Atlantic
shores recognized as belonging to one particular branch of the
evolutionary tree of languages  Protolanguage

22. The NeogrammariansThe Neogrammarians
Junggrammatiker
1870
Hermann OsthoffAugust Leskien Hermann Paul Karl Brugmann

23. • Historical linguists
• Classical scholars
• They formulated sound correpondences in the
Indo-European languages  SOUND LAWS
“A sound change affects simultaneously all words in
which its environment is met, without exception”
Example: in Italian, the phoneme /s/ can be
pronounced as /z/ when surrounded by two vowels.
/s/  /z/ V_V casa Fusillo cosa

24. The Comparative MethodThe Comparative Method
Rasmus Rask Karl Verner Jacob Grimm
Technique for studying the development of languages by
comparing feature-by-feature aspects of language to find a
common ancestor.

25. Italian Galician Portuguese Maori
nome nome nome ingoa
pesce pesce peixe ika
due dous dois rua
notte noite noite po
Closely related
Related, less closely
unrelated

26. Portuguese Galician Italian
nearer common
ancestor
Galaico-Portuguese
common ancestor
Vulgar Latin
Language Family Tree

27. Galaico-Portuguese Latin
ATTESTED LANGUAGES
Surviving records
Documents written in those languages
* If the language can’t be attested, then the process of reconstruction is used.

28. TaskTask
In pairs, make a chart containing the following information:
Historical Linguistics
Key figures Ideas/thoughts/Major work

29. HomeworkHomework
Essay question #1:
How has comparative linguistics influenced in modern
linguistics?
What has been the contribution?