1: The origins of language
The divine source In the biblical tradition, as described in the book of Genesis, God created Adam and “whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.� Alternatively, following a Hindu tradition, language came from Sarasvati, wife of Brahma, creator of the universe.
The natural sound source
A quite different view of the beginnings of language is based on the concept of natural sounds. The basic idea is that primitive words could have been imitations of the natural sounds which early men and women heard around them.
The social interaction source Another proposal involving natural sounds has been called the “yohe-ho� theory. The idea is that the sounds of a person involved in physical effort could be the source of ourlanguage, especially when that physical effort involved several people and the interactionhad to be coordinated.
The physical adaptation source
Instead of looking at types of sounds as the source of human speech, we can look at thetypes of physical features humans possess, especially those that are distinct from othercreatures, which may have been able to support speech production.
Teeth, lips, mouth, larynx and pharynx Human teeth are upright, not slanting outwards like those of apes, and they are roughly even in height. Such characteristics are not very useful for ripping or tearing food and seem better adapted for grinding and chewing.
The tool-making source
In the physical adaptation view, one function (producing speech sounds) must have been superimposed on existing anatomical features (teeth, lips) previously used for other purposes (chewing, sucking).
The genetic source We can think of the human baby in its ďŹ rst few years as a living example of some of these physical changes taking place. At birth, the baby’s brain is only a quarter of its eventual weight and the larynx is much higher in the throat, allowing babies, like chimpanzees, to breathe and drink at the same time.
2: Animals and human language
Communication We should ďŹ rst distinguish between speciďŹ cally communicative signals and those which may be unintentionally informative signals. Someone listening to you may become informed about you through a number of signals that you have not intentionally sent.
Properties of human language While we tend to think of communication as the primary function of human language, it is not a distinguishing feature. All creatures communicate in some way.
Displacement When your pet cat comes home and stands at your feet calling meow, you are likely to understand this message as relating to that immediate time and place. If you ask your cat where it has been and what it was up to, you’ll probably get the same meow response.
Arbitrariness It is generally the case that there is no “natural” connection between a linguistic form and its meaning. The connection is quite arbitrary. We can’t just look at the Arabic word ﮎﻝﺏand, from its shape, for example, determine that it has a natural and obvious meaning any more than we can with its English translation form dog.
Productivity Humans are continually creating new expressions and novel utterances by manipulating their linguistic resources to describe new objects and situations. This property is described as productivity (or “creativity” or “open-endedness”) and essentially means that the potential number of utterances in any human language is infinite.
Cultural transmission While we may inherit physical features such as brown eyes and dark hair from our parents, we do not inherit their language. We acquire a language in a culture with other speakers and not from parental genes.
Duality Human language is organized at two levels or layers simultaneously. This property is called duality (or “double articulation�). In speech production, we have a physical level at which we can produce individual sounds, like n, b and i.
Talking to animals If these properties of human language make it such a unique communication system, quite different from the communication systems of other creatures, then it would seem extremely unlikely that other creatures would be able to understand it.
Chimpanzees and language Washoe
The controversy In the basis of his work with another chimpanzee called Nim, the psychologist Herbert Terrace argued that chimpanzees simply produce signs in response to the demands of people and tend to repeat signs those people use, yet they are treated (by naïve researchers) as if they are taking part in a “conversation.”
3: The sounds of language
Phonetics The general study of the characteristics of speech sounds is called phonetics. Our main interest will be in articulatory phonetics, which is the study of how speech sounds are made, or articulated. Other areas of study are acoustic phonetics, which deals with the physical properties of speech as sound waves in the air, and auditory phonetics (or perceptual phonetics
Voiced and voiceless sounds
Place of articulation Once the air has passed through the larynx, it comes up and out through the mouth and/or the nose. Most consonant sounds are produced by using the tongue and other parts of the mouth to constrict, in some way, the shape of the oral cavity through which the air is passing.
Bilabials These are sounds formed using both (= bi) upper and lower lips (= labia). The initial sounds in the words pat, bat and mat are all bilabials. They are represented by the symbols [p], which is voiceless, and [b] and [m], which are voiced.
Labiodentals These are sounds formed with the upper teeth and the lower lip. The initial sounds of the words fat and vat and the final sounds in the words safe and save are labiodentals. They are represented by the symbols [f], which is voiceless, and [v], which is voiced. Notice that the final sound in the word cough, and the initial
sound in photo, despite the spelling differences, are both pronounced as [f].
Dentals These sounds are formed with the tongue tip behind the upper front teeth. The initial sound of thin and the final sound of bath are both voiceless dentals. The symbol used for this sound is [θ], usually referred to as “theta.” It is the symbol you would use for the first and last sounds in the phrase three teeth. The voiced dental is represented by the symbol [ð], usually called“eth.”
Alveolars These are sounds formed with the front part of the tongue on the alveolar ridge, which is the rough, bony ridge immediately behind and above the upper teeth. The initial sounds in top, dip,
sit, zoo and nut are all alveolars. The symbols for these sounds are easy to remember – [t], [d], [s], [z], [n]. Of these, [t] and [s] are voiceless whereas [d], [z] and [n] are voiced.
palatals This is called the hard palate or just the palate. Sounds produced with the tongue and the palate are called palatals (or alveopalatals). Examples of palatals are the initial sounds in the words shout and child, which are both voiceless. The “sh” sound is represented as [ʃ] and the “ch” sound is represented as [ʧ].
Velars Even further back in the roof of the mouth, beyond the hard palate, you will find a soft area, which is called the soft palate, or
the velum. Sounds produced with the back of the tongue against the velum are called velars. There is a voiceless velar sound, represented by the symbol [k], which occurs not only in kid and kill, but is also the initial sound in car and cold.
Manner of articulation So far, we have concentrated on describing consonant sounds in terms of where they are articulated. We can also describe the same sounds in terms of how they are articulated. Such a description is necessary if we want to be able to differentiate between some sounds which. For example, we can say that [t] and [s] are both voiceless alveolar sounds. The [t] sound is one of a set of sounds called stops and the [s] sound is one of a set called fricatives.
Affricates
Nasal
Stops Of the sounds we have already mentioned, the set [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [ɡ] are all produced by some form of “stopping” of the air stream (very briefly) then letting it go abruptly. This type of consonant sound, resulting from a blocking or stopping effect on the air stream, is called a stop (or a “plosive”).
Vowels While the consonant sounds are mostly articulated via closure or obstruction in the vocal tract, vowel sounds are produced with a relatively free flow of air. They are all typically voiced. To describe vowel sounds, we consider the way in which the tongue influences the shape through which the airflow must pass.
4: The sound patterns of language
Phonology is essentially the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language. It is, in effect, based on a theory of what every speaker of a language unconsciously knows about the sound patterns of that language.
Phonemes Each one of these meaning-distinguishing sounds in a language is described as a phoneme. When we learn to use alphabetic writing, we are actually using the concept of the phoneme as the single stable sound type which is represented by a single written
symbol. there are many different versions of that sound-type regularly produced in actual speech (“in the mouth”). We can describe those different versions as phones. Phones are phonetic units and appear in square brackets. When we have a set of phones, all of which are versions of one phoneme, we add the prefix “allo-” (= one of a closely related set) and refer to them as allophones of that phoneme.
Minimal pairs and sets Phonemic distinctions in a language can be tested via pairs and sets of words. When two words such as pat and bat are identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme, occurring in the same position, the two words are described as a minimal pair. For examples of English minimal pairs are fan–van, bet–bat, site– side.
Consonant clusters Both the onset and the coda can consist of more than one consonant, also known as a consonant cluster. The combination /st/ is a consonant cluster (CC) used as onset in the word stop, and as coda in the word post. There are many CC onset combinations permitted in English phonotactics, as in black, bread, trick, twin, flat and throw.
Coarticulation effects In much of the preceding discussion, we have been describing speech sounds in syllables and words as if they are always pronounced carefully and deliberately, almost in slow motion. Speech isn’t normally like that.
Assimilation When two sound segments occur in sequence and some aspect of one segment is taken or “copied” by the other, the process is known as assimilation. If we think of the physical production of speech, Think of the word have /hæv/ by itself, then think of
how it is pronounced in the phrase I have to go in everyday speech.
Normal speech These two processes of assimilation and elision occur in everyone’s normal speech and should not be regarded as some type of sloppiness or laziness in speaking. In fact, consistently avoiding the regular patterns of assimilation and elision used in a language would result in extremely artificial-sounding talk.
5: Word Formation
Etymology The study of the origin and history of a word is known as its etymology, a term which, like many of our technical words, comes to us through Latin, but has its origins in Greek (etymon “original form” + logia “study of”), and is not to be confused with entomology, also from Greek (e´ntomon “insect”).
Coinage The coinage is One of the least common processes of word formation in English is coinage, that is, the invention of totally new terms. The most typical sources are invented trade names for commercial products that become general terms (usually without capital letters) for any version of that product.
Borrowing One of the most common sources of new words in English is the process simply labeled borrowing, that is, the taking over of words from other languages Throughout its history, the English language has adopted a vast number of words from other languages, including croissant (French), dope (Dutch), lilac (Persian), piano (Italian), pretzel (German), sofa (Arabic), tattoo (Tahitian), tycoon (Japanese), yogurt (Turkish) and zebra (Bantu).
Compounding Compounding is a joining of two separate words to produce a single form. Thus, Lehn and Wort are combined to produce Lehn
worth in German. This combining process, technically known as compounding, Common English compounds are bookcase, doorknob, ďŹ ngerprint, sunburn, textbook, wallpaper, wastebasket and waterbed. All these examples are nouns
Blending The combination of two separate forms to produce a single new term is also present in the process called blending.However,blending is typically accomplished by taking only the beginning of one word and joining it to the end of the other word.so that However blending is the ability to smoothly and fluidly combine individual sound together into words.
Clipping The element of reduction that is noticeable in blending is even more apparent in the process described as clipping. This occurs when a word of more than one syllable (facsimile) is reduced to a shorter form (fax), usually beginning in casual speech.
Backformation Very specialized type of reduction process is known as backformation. Typically, a word of one type usually a noun is reduced to form a word of another type usually Verb.
Conversion
A change in the function of a word, as for example when a noun comes to be used as a verb (without any reduction), is generally known as conversion. Other labels for this very common process are “category change” and “functional shift.” The conversion process is particularly productive in Modern English, with new uses occurring frequently.
Acronyms Acronyms are new words formed from the initial letters of a set of other words. These can be forms such as CD (“compact disk”) or VCR (“video cassette recorder”) where the pronunciation consists of saying each separate letter. More typically, acronyms are pronounced as new single words, as for example NATO, NASA or UNESCO.
6:Morphology
Morphology In many languages, what appear to be single forms actually turn out to contain a large number of “word-like” elements.
Morphemes The word forms” may consist of a number of elements. All these elements are described as morphemes. The definition of a morpheme is “a minimal unit of meaning or grammatical function.” Units of grammatical function include forms used to indicate past tense or plural.
Free and bound morphemes
From these examples, we can make a broad distinction between two types of morphemes. There are free morphemes, that is, morphemes that can stand by themselves as single words, for example, open and tour.
Lexical and functional morphemes What we have described as free morphemes fall into two categories. The first category is that set of ordinary nouns, adjectives and verbs that we think of as the words that carry the “content” of the messages we convey.
Derivational and inflectional morphemes
The set of affixes that make up the category of bound morphemes can also be divided into two types. These are the derivational morphemes. We use these bound morphemes to make new words or to make words of a different grammatical category from the stem.
Morphological description The difference between derivational and inflectional morphemes is worth emphasizing. An inflectional morpheme never changes the grammatical category of a word. For example, both old and older are adjectives.
Other languages When we look at the morphology of other languages, we can find other forms and patterns realizing the basic types of morphemes we have identified. The first example below is from English and the second from a language called Aztec from
7: Grammar
Grammar We recognize that the phrase the lucky boys is a wellformed phrase in English, but that the following two
“phrases” are not at all wellformed. From these examples, we can see that English has strict rules for combining words into phrases. The article (the) must go before the adjective (lucky), which must go before the noun (boys). So, in order to be grammatical, this type of phrase must have the sequence article + adjective + noun (and not *noun + article + adjective.
Traditional grammar The terms “article,” “adjective” and “noun” that we used to label the grammatical categories of the words in the phrase the lucky boys come from traditional grammar, which has its origins in the description of languages such as Latin and Greek.
Nouns are words used to refer to people (boy), objects (backpack), creatures (dog), places (school), qualities (roughness), phenomena (earthquake) and abstract ideas (love) as if they were all “things.�
Articles
are words (a, an, the) used with nouns to form noun phrases classifying those “things” (You can have a banana or an apple) or identifying them as already known (I’ll take the apple).
Adjectives are words used, typically with nouns, to provide more information about the things referred to (happy people, large objects, a strange experience).
Verbs
are words used to refer to various kinds of actions (go, talk) and states (be, have) involving people and things in events (Jessica is ill and has a sore throat so she can’t talk or go anywhere).
Adverbs are words used, typically with verbs, to provide more information about actions, states and events (slowly, yesterday). Some adverbs (really, very) are also used with adjectives to modify information about things (Really large objects move slowly. Ihadavery strange experience yesterday).
Prepositions are words (at, in, on, near, with, without) used with nouns in phrases providing information about time (at ďŹ ve o’clock, in the morning)
Traditional analysis
In traditional grammar books, tables such as the following were often presented for English verbs, constructed by analogy with similar tables of forms in Latin grammars. The forms for the Latin verb amare (“to love�) are listed on the right. First person singular (I) love amo Present tense, active voice Second person singular (you) love amas Third person singular (she) loves amat First person plural (we) love amamus Second person plural (you) love amatis Third person plural (they) love amant
12: NEUROLINGUISTIC The study of the relationship between language and the brain is called neurolinguistics. Although this is a relatively recent term, the ďŹ eld of study dates back to the nineteenth century.
Language areas in the brain Since that time, a number of discoveries have been made about the speciďŹ c parts in the brain that are related to language functions. We now know that the most important parts are in areas above the left ear. then disconnect the brain stem
(connecting the brain to the spinal cord) and cut the corpus callosum (connecting the two hemispheres).
Broca’s area Broca’s area. Paul Broca, a French surgeon, reported in the 1860s that damage to this specific part of the brain was related to extreme difficulty in producing speech. It was noted that damage to the correspond-ing area on the right hemisphere had no such effect.
Wernicke’s area Carl Wernicke was a German doctor who, in the 1870s, reported that damage to this part of the brain was found among patients who had speech comprehension difficulties. This finding confirmed the left hemisphere location of language ability and led to the view that Wernicke’s area is part of the brain crucially involved in the understanding of speech.
the motor cortex and the arcuate fasciculus an area that generally controls movement of the muscles (for moving hands, feet, arms, etc.). Close to Broca’s area is the part
of the motor cortex that controls the articulatory muscles of the face, jaw, tongue and larynx.
The localization view Having identified these four components, it is tempting to concludee that specific aspects of language ability can be accorded specific locations in the brain.
Tongue tips and slips We have all experienced difficulty, on some occasion(s), in getting brain and speech production to work together smoothly. Minor production difficulties of this sort may provide possible
clues to how our linguistic knowledge is organized within the brain.
Slips of the tongue Another type of speech error is commonly described as a slip of the tongue. This produces expressions such as make a long shory stort (instead of “make a long story short”), use the door to open the key, and a fifty-pound dog of bag food.
Slips of the ear One other type of slip may provide some clues to how the brain tries to make sense of the auditory signal it receives. for
example, in our hearing great ape and wondering why someone should be looking for one in his office. (The speaker actually said “gray tape.”)
Aphasia types of experience that some people live with constantly. Those people suffer from different types of language disorders, generally described as “aphasia.”
Broca’s aphasia The serious language disorder is characterized by a substantially reduced amount of speech, distorted articulation and slow, often effortful speech. What is said often consists almost entirely of lexical morphemes (e.g. nouns, verbs).
Wernicke’s aphasia The type of language disorder that results in difficulties in auditory comprehension is sometimes called ´´Wernicke’s aphasia´´. Someone suffering from this disorder can actually produce very fluent speech which is, however, often difficult to make sense of.
Conduction aphasia
Individuals suffering from this disorder sometimes mispronounce words, but typically do not have articulation prob-lems. They are uent, but may have disrupted rhythm because of pauses and hesitations.
Dichotic listening An experimental technique that has demonstrated a left hemisphere dominance for syllable and word processing is called the dichotic listening test. This technique uses the generally established fact that anything experienced on the right-hand side of the body is processed in the left hemisphere, and anything on the left side is processed in the right hemisphere.
19: Language and social variation
Sociolinguistics
The term sociolinguistics is used generally for the study of the relationship between language and society. This is a broad area of investigation that developed through the interaction of linguistics with a number of other academic disciplines.
Social dialects The traditional study of regional dialects tended to concentrate on the speech of people in rural areas, the study of social dialects has been mainly concerned with speakers in towns and cities.
Education and occupation
A personal dialect or idiolect, we generally tend to sound like others with whom we share similar educational backgrounds or occupations. Among those who leave the educational system at an early age, there is a general pattern of using certain forms that are relatively infrequent in the speech of those who go on to complete college.
Social markers The signiďŹ cance of the linguistic variable can be virtually the opposite in terms of social status in two different places, yet in both places the patterns illustrate how the use of this particular speech sound functions as a social marker.
Speech style and style-shifting In this department store study, Labov included another subtle element that allowed him not only to investigate the type of
social stratification illustrated but also speech style as a social feature of language use.
Speech accommodation As we look more closely at variation in speech style, we can see that it is not only a function of speakers’ social class and attention to speech, but it is also influenced by their perception of their listeners. TEENAGER: I can’t do it, sir. TEACHER: Oh, come on. If I can do it, you can too. TEENAGER: Look, I can nae dae it so.
African American English In much the same way as large geographical barriers between groups foster linguistic differences in regional dialects, social barriers such as discrimination and segregation serve to create marked differences between social dialects.
20: Culture
Culture We use the term culture to refer to all the ideas and assumptions about the nature of things and people that we learn when we become members of social groups. It can be defined as “socially acquired knowledge.�
Categories Although there is a lot of variation among all the individual “dogs� in our experience, we can use the word dog to talk about any one of them as a member of the category.
Time concepts To take a more abstract example, when we learn a word such as week or weekend, we are inheriting a conceptual system that operates with amounts of time as common categories. Having words for units of time such as “two days” or “seven days”
The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis The general analytic perspective we are considering is part of what became known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis during the middle of the twentieth century.
Snow Returning to “snow” in cold places, we should first replace “Eskimo” with more accurate terms for the people, Inuit, and their language, Inuktitut. According to Martin (1986), the Inuit of West Greenland have only two basic words for “snow” (qanik, “snow in the air,” and aput, “snow on the ground”).
Gendered speech In general, men have longer vocal tracts, larger larynxes and thicker vocal folds than women. The result is that men typically speak in a lower pitch range (80–200 Herz) than women (120– 400 Herz).
Gendered interaction Many of the features already identified in women’s speech (e.g. frequent question-type forms) facilitate the exchange of turns, allowing others to speak, with the effect that interaction becomes a shared activity.