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Lengua Inglesa II 2009-2010
Topic 1: Language and communication
Mick O’Donnell VI-bis 302 michael.odonnell@uam.es
1. Language and communication 1.1. Language What is language? • • •
Code for communication Learnt, not biologically inherited Meaning is arbitrarily assigned to symbols
What / who is involved in human language? How is language studied? • • •
Language as sounds Phonology: the way languages organize sounds to convey differences in meaning). Language as wordings Syntax / Grammar: the study of word structure (morphology) and the study of word sequence within sentences (syntax). Language as meanings Semantics: the way language is structured or organized to express meanings.
Approaches to language: • •
Cognitive approach: language is something that exists in the minds of the users. Social approach: Observe what people do with language and model their linguistic behaviour.
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1. Language and communication 1.2. Grammar Grammar studies how words combine together to form larger units. •
Approaches to Grammar Grammar: • Generative approach: forms of the language and how they combine • Functional approach: function of each utterance (e.g. declarative vs. interrogative)
•
Types of grammar grammar: • Prescriptive grammar: one variety of language has higher value than others, and therefore should be imposed on the whole speech community. Standard. • Descriptive grammar: concerned with the facts of linguistic usage
1. Language and communication 1.2. Exercises (i): prescription vs. description Which of the following statements are prescriptive and which are descriptive? a. "It's me" is ungrammatical; "It's I" is the correct way to say this. b. People who say "ain't" may suffer some negative social consequences because many speakers of English associate "ain't" with the dialects of the working classes. c. In casual styles of speaking, English speakers frequently end sentences with prepositions; ending sentences with prepositions is avoided in formal styles. d. "Between you and me" is correct; "between you and I" is ungrammatical. (from Language Files 1994: 14)
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1. Language and communication 1.2. Exercises (i): prescription vs. description Language Description via Google: Which is “correct”? 1.
John and I went out.
2.
John and me went out.
3.
John and myself went out.
1. Language and communication 1.2. Exercises (i): prescription vs. description Language Description via Google: Which is “correct”?
Google hits
1.
John and I went...
10 million
2.
John and me went ...
71,000
3.
John and myself went ...
50,000
With so many real usages, can any of these be said to be incorrect? (Important to chek for false hits, and pages written by non-native speakers)
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1. Language and communication 1.2. Exercises (ii): Prescriptive rules broken All of these sentences are acceptable to some speakers of English, but not to others. Which prescriptive rule has been violated in each case?
a. He don't know about the race. b. You was out when I called. c. Me and Peter walked to school. d. There's 20 horses registered in the show. e. That window's broke, so be careful. f. Jim and me are gonna go campin' this weekend. g. I hope to quickly finish writing my essay. h. Jack has approached the essay topic differently to the way I took it. i. None of us were there on time. (???) j. We haven't done nothing wrong. k. Less people than were expected turned up at the meeting. (a-f from O'Grady et al. 1993. Contemporary Linguistics. An Introduction, p. 12; g-k from O'Dell, F. 1997. English Panorama 1. C.U.P)
1. Language and communication 1.3. Language: types of meaning • Experiential meaning: • Deals with the content of the message, the speaker's conceptualisation of reality. • Experiential meanings are expressed through the choice of processes, participants and circumstances. Tarantino Actor
will present
his new movie Process: material Goal
He
told
Sayer
Process: verbal
tomorrow Circumstance: time
reporters
that he thought it was his best movie yet Addressee Verbiage
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1. Language and communication 1.3. Language: types of meaning Experiential meaning: • Deals with the content of the message, the speaker's conceptualisation of reality. • Experiential meanings are expressed through the choice of processes, participants and circumstances. Tarantino Actor
Participant
will present
his new movie Process: material Goal
Process
He
told
Sayer
Process: verbal
Participant
tomorrow Circumstance: time Circumstance
reporters
that he thought it was his best movie yet Addressee Verbiage
1. Language and communication 1.3. Language: types of meaning Interpersonal meaning: • What is the speaker/writer trying to achieve in respect to the listener/reader: give information, request information, demand action, etc. • Often called speech acts. • Informal labels: statement, question, order, promise, offer, thanking, etc. • Examples: Thanks a lot; Do not close the door; Shall we go? • Interpersonal meanings are expressed through the Mood structure. Typically: • Statement: declarative mood • Question: interrogative mood • Order: imperative mood
• Although other expressions are possible: • Question/declarative: • Order/declarative:
John is coming? This floor must be clean by 5!
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1. Language and communication 1.3. Language: types of meaning Textual meaning: • How the text is organised as a message: • What does the speaker/writer indicate as important (Theme, marked word order), e.g. John was seen by Mary vs. Mary saw John • Use of cohesive devices to help us understand the text: John lost his bag. vs. John lost John’s bag. • Textual meaning expressed through various parts of the grammar, e.g., • Theme: use of marked word order and other grammatical choices to place particular entities at the front (see Topic 8) • Cohesion: pronouns, determiners, ellipsis, substitution (see Topic 7)
1. Language and communication 1.3. Exercise on interpersonal meanings Match each line with the following discourse functions/illocutionary acts: thanking, offer, echo question, directive, promise, exclamation (2), question (3), statement (3).
Offer
J: If you like, I'll come into your shop tomorrow and get some model aeroplane kits. C: OK. Don't forget to bring the bill with you this time. J: I won't. Do you enjoy working here? C: It's all right, I suppose. C: But I am looking for another job. My dad keeps on at me to go into his business. but the last thing I want to do is work for him! J: Why? C: Why? He’s a bit of a slave driver. Do you think it is possible to get me on a part-time Youth Leadership course? J: I'll ring up tomorrow, Chris, and find out for you. C: Thanks a lot.
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1. Language and communication Exercise (i) 1. For each of the following clauses say whether a participant or a circumstance has been chosen as Theme: a) Main Street is usually crowded on late shopping nights. b) The girls armed with hockey-sticks chased the burglar. c) Quite by accident I came across a very rare postagestamp. d) Away in the distance you can see Mount Kilimanjaro. e) What I am going to tell you must not be repeated.
1. Language and communication Exercise (ii) 2. In each of the following clauses say whether the Subject, the Direct Object or the Adjunct has been chosen as Theme: a.
About fifty or sixty thousand years ago, there lived on earth a creature similar to man.
b. Skulls and bones of this extinct species of man were found at Neanderthal. c.
Where the first true men originated we do not know.
d. These newcomers eventually drove the Neanderthalers out of existence. e.
In Asia or Africa there may be still undiscovered deposits of earlier and richer human remains.
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