This presentation is about a simple introduction of linguistics and language

1. Introduction to Linguistics
E 217
Week 1
LECTURER:
MISS ERGAYA GERAIR ALSOUT
1

2. References
 McGregor B. (2009). Linguistics An Introduction.
 Burton, Déchaine, & Vatikiotis-Bateson (2012). Linguistics for
Dummies. John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
 Yule, G. (1985). The Study of Language. Cambridge University
Press.
1/11/2019
2

3. The origins of human language
 Four theories represent the origin of language:
1) The divine source
2) The natural sound source
3) The physical adaptation source
 Teeth, lips, mouth, larynx and pharynx
 The human brain
4) The genetic source 1/11/2019
3

4. Knowing a Language
Is a uniquely human ability to speak a language
Every human has a language (or languages) to use in his
or her everyday life
Genetic endowment
Animals do not speak
1/11/2019
4

5. Knowing What Language Is
 Linguistics is not the study of languages
 It is the study of language
 Languages differ in their sound inventory, vocabulary, sentence patterns,
and so on
 Linguists try to understand the nature of human language, find “common
sets of features” shared by all the languages
 Analogy with cars
There are different cars
They share the common features 1/11/2019
5

6. Features of human language
1. Displacement: to talk about past, present and future.
2. Arbitrariness: no natural connection between linguistic form and its
meaning.
3. Productivity: the ability to produce and create new utterances.
4. Cultural transmission: language is not inherited from parental genes.
5. Duality: level of form and level of meaning.
6. Reflexivity: conveying information about themselves.
1/11/2019
6

7. What is Linguistics?
 The scientific study of language
 Collect data (corpus, elicitation, experimentation)
We take actual language data as the objective
Language use by speakers (written / spoken)
Data from the user’s intuition
 Describe language, as it is spoken and written, in a critical manner, or, by way of
thinking about language
 Explain language
As a result of describing, we develop hypotheses and confront them with
observations. 1/11/2019
7

8. Branches of linguistics
1) Phonetics
2) Phonology
3) Morphology
4) Syntax
5) Semantics
6) Pragmatics
7) Sociolinguistics
8) Historical linguistics
9) Linguistic Typology
10) Discourse analysis
11) Psycholinguistics
12) Neurolinguistics
1/11/2019
8

9.  Phonetics
The sounds of languages
How speech sounds are
made and how they are
perceived.
 Phonology
The way sounds are
patterned in a language.
 Morphology
How words are structured,
how they are made of
smaller meaningful parts.
 Syntax
The ways words go
together to form sentences.
1/11/2019
9

10.  Semantics
 The aspects of meaning that are encoded by
words and grammar.
 Pragmatics
 The aspects of meaning of an utterance that
come from its use in a particular context.
 Discourse analysis
 Study of stretches of language, both spoken
and written, larger than the sentence.
 Attempt to find regularities.
 How texts are made coherent
 Sociolinguistics
 Study of language in its social context.
 Relation between society and language.
 The variation in languages associated with
social phenomena (social group).
 Historical linguistics
 How language changes over time
 Phonology, semantics, syntax,
pragmatics
1/11/2019
10

11.  Psycholinguistics
 Mental processes involved in
language production,
comprehensions, and acquisition
 Neurolinguistics
 Processes of language activities in
the brain
 Linguistic Typology
 Study of the range and limitations on
structural variation among languages
 Discovering the variation by classifying
languages into types according to some
structural feature
 Phonetics, phonology, morphology,
syntax, semantics, pragmatics
 Not a mere comparison of languages but
achievement of classification of languages
1/11/2019
11