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What is Linguistics?
Introduction to Linguistics
Fall 2009 ~ Dr. Michael Getty Linguistics is the study of language and languages –
any or all of them – and how they function …
•In people’s mouths
Intro Lecture Part I •In people’s ears
•In people’s brains
This lecture is …
• A teaser tour, a taste of things we’ll talk about this •In people’s interactions with other people
semester and ways in which we’ll talk about them.
• A first pass at identifying and dismantling some •I’vebeen working my whole adult life to
common myths and misconceptions. communicate this, but when people find out
•A first pass at the syllabus and guidelines for a good I’m a linguist, here’s what I get most of the
experience with this course time…
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What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
Look at this list of words. Going just on the sounds suggested Look at this list of words. Going just on the sounds suggested
by the letters you see, which of them are English? by the letters you see, which of them are English?
bilk iblk libk kilb bilk iblk libk kilb
bikl ibkl likb kibl bikl ibkl likb kibl
bkil ilbk lbik kbli bkil ilbk lbik kbli
bkli ilkb lbki kbil bkli ilkb lbki kbil
blik ilkb lkbi klib blik ilkb lkbi klib
blki iklb lkib kbli blki iklb lkib kbli
What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
Now look at the list again.Which of them could be English? Now look at the list again.Which of them could be English?
What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
Now look at the list again.Which of them could be English? •Put your fingers or a thin piece of paper up close to your lips.
•Now say these words, slowly and with a little emphasis:
bilk iblk libk kilb •T a k e
bikl ibkl likb kibl •S t e a k
bkil ilbk lbik kbli •You should feel or see a puff of air after the sound cued by the
letter T in take but not as much in steak.
bkli ilkb lbki kbil
•Try other pairs: pair-spare, Pam-Spam, kin-skin, kit-skit
blik ilkb lkbi klib •If you’re a native speaker of English, you’ve been getting this
Blki iklb lkib kbli right with almost 100% predictability every day since you were
I could give you millions of random combinations of sounds, and about five years old.
as a native speaker, you would know, with a level of certainty
approaching 100%, which of them are potential English words.
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What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
•Put a finger directly under your nostrils and then say these •Suppose I teach you a new word, blim, which means to
words very slowly: touch your elbows together. How would I say I did this
•S e e d yesterday?
•S e e n •I blimmed.
•You
Y should
h ld feel
f l warm, moist
i t air
i on your finger
fi when
h you hit •Suppose
S I teach
h you a new word,
d skrid,
k d which
hi h means a
the vowel sound in seen but not in seed. piece of hardened belly button lint. How would I tell
•Congratulations! You just manipulated your velum. you I have two of them?
•Your velum: A fleshy muscle in the middle of your head •Skrids.
between your oral and nasal cavities. When it’s relaxed, air
•How do you know how to say blimmed and skrids if
comes out of your nose. When it’s flexed, the air only comes
out of your mouth. you’d never heard these words before? Why not blum
•If you’re a native speaker of English, you’ve been doing this
and skridden?
with almost 100% accuracy since you were about five years old.
What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
Maybe you recall this Not long after Why
book, which explored Cats Paint, there was
the instinct some this …
common house cats
have to dip their
paws in paint and go
wild …
What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
Why is this funny? •Itdoesn’t have to be this way!
•Because everyone knows •Consider Latin, commonly spoken from about 500
that now it’s the cats that BCE to about 500 CE, the parent language of present-
are being painted, and day Portugese, Spanish, French, Catalan, Italian, and
Romanian (but not English!)
we’re not used to that sort
•All of these sentences mean ‘Marc
Marc loves Anna.’
Anna.
off thing
thi happening
h i to
t live
li
animals. •Marcusamat Annam.
•All that just from flipping •Marcus Annam amat.
two words around? •Amat Marcus Annam.
Cats Paint Æ Paint Cats •Amat Annam Marcus.
•Annam amat Marcus.
•Annam Marcus amat.
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What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
But what if the relationship is different? What if it’s But what if the relationship is different? What if it’s
Anna who loves Marc? Anna who loves Marc?
‘Marc loves Anna’ ‘Anna loves Marc’ ‘Marc loves Anna’ ‘Anna loves Marc’
Marcus amat Annam. Marcum amat Anna. Marcus amat Annam. Marcum amat Anna.
M
Marcus Annam
A amat.
t M
Marcum Anna
A amat.
t M
Marcus A
Annam amat.
t M
Marcum A
Anna amat.
t
Amat Marcus Annam. Amat Marcum Anna. Amat Marcus Annam. Amat Marcum Anna.
Amat Annam Marcus. Anna asinus Marcum. Amat Annam Marcus . Anna asinus Marcum.
Annam amat Marcus. Anna amat Marcum. Annam amat Marcus . Anna amat Marcum.
Annam Marcus amat. Anna Marcum amat. Annam Marcus amat. Anna Marcum amat.
So in Latin, the shape of a word – and not its So in Latin, the shape of a word – and not its
position – tells you who’s doing what to position – tells you who’s doing what to
whom… whom…
What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
Why doesn't English work this way? Look at these sentences…
What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
People often criticize redundancy in other people’s speech People often criticize redundancy in other people’s speech
and writing – usage like irregardless or continue on… and writing – usage like irregardless or continue on…
But the truth is, language is filled with necessary But the truth is, language is filled with necessary
redundancy. redundancy.
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What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
People often criticize redundancy in other people’s speech People often criticize redundancy in other people’s speech
and writing – usage like irregardless or continue on… and writing – usage like irregardless or continue on…
But the truth is, language is filled with necessary But the truth is, language is filled with necessary
redundancy. redundancy.
Try to read the sentence I’m
I m about to flash on the
screen… Your brain filled in words that weren’t there…
John and Mary tried convince Mark John and Mary tried to convince Mark
that should leave, but Mark said that he should leave, but Mark said he
couldn't. couldn't.
What You Don’t Know You Know What You Don’t Know You Know
Just like you can identify words you've never heard as
either consistent or not consistent with the English
language, you can do the same for sentences you've Screw you!
never heard ... and probably never will again.
Go screw yourself!
* = This is not English
?? = This is weird English Y go screw yourself!
You lf!
What You Don’t Know You Know What You Don’t Know You Know
We're familiar with prefixes and suffixes in English. *Ab-fuckin-solutely *Absolute-fuckin-ly
Like un + friendly or absolute + ly. *Min-fuckin-nesota *Minneso-fuckin-ta
Lots of other languages have 'infixes,' little pieces that go So maybe the rule is that you have to have two syllables before the
inside a word to change its meaning. infix?
English has only one of these. We use it to communicate S
Sorry...
heavy emphasis: Incredible Æ In-fuckin-credible!
Absolutely Æ Abso-fuckin-lutely! Preapproved Æ Pre-fuckin-approved!
Minnesota Æ Minne-fuckin-sota! Unreal Æ Un-fuckin-real!
But ...
But not every imaginable combination works… Extreme Æ *Ex-fuckin-treme!
Important Æ *Im-fuckin-portant!
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What You Don’t Know You Know What You Don’t Know You Know
Here are some patterns you’ll hear often in non-native speech, Native speakers of English apply all sorts of rules to compress
especially from speakers of Germanic and Slavic languages. casual speech, but they're sensitive to context in ways that
people would be hard-pressed to explain:
•Sorry, I can't talk now. *I drive.
•Æ I'm driving.
g I'm going to go shopping. Æ I'm gonna go shopping.
•I understand a little Russian. *I've taken a class last year. I'm going to a party. Æ *I'm gonna a party.
•Æ I took a class last year. I've got to get going. Æ I gotta get going.
•I’ll drop by your place on the way home. *I'm there at five. I've got two tickets. Æ *I gotta tickets.
•Æ I'll be there at five. I should have slept in. Æ I shoulda slept in.
•*Sorry I didn't answer the phone! *I went to the bathroom I should have breakfast. Æ *I shoulda breakfast.
when you called.
•Æ I was going to the bathroom
What You Don’t Know You Know What Is This Course Good For?
If you had to right now, could you explain any of these patterns in
clear, consistent, and context-independent ways? Okay. Does the world really need more people schooled in
Probably not yet, despite the fact that as a native speaker, you get linguistic analysis?
them right virtually 100% of the time. Maybe, maybe not. But understanding how language works at
Understanding the systems at play in all these examples is going to a deep level will nourish your understanding of what it means
b a diffi
be difficultl game off abstract
b concepts andd structures. B
But iin to be human.
principle, you won’t be learning anything you don’t already know. Hint: It’s all language.
You acquired all of this, your knowledge of the complex, interacting Every other characteristic we've thought of as distinguishing us
systems of your native language, in roughly the first five years of from other beasts has fallen by the wayside in recent decades.
your life. And you did it without formal instruction or the kind of
training in linguistic analysis you’re going to receive in this course. Other primates can use tools, scheme, lie, and learn sign language.
Birds have regional accents. Dogs can do basic math. Smart birds
How amazing is that? can reason abstractly. Only humans have language.
What Is This Course Good For? What Is This Course Good For?
Understanding how language works at a deep level can help Here’s the kicker.
you become a better citizen and neighbor. I’m going to give you a live reading of what William Caxton, owner of the
People often decry variation and change in language as sure first English printing press in 1490, had to say about the language of his day.
signs of chaos and decay. Ignore the weird spellings. English spelling wasn’t systematized until well
Linguists understand that variation and change in language into the 17th and 18th centuries.
just are – they are neither intrinsically good or intrinsically bad. I’ll be using the results of decades of scholarship in language change and
What matters is how we act towards one another.
another English history to model late fifteenth-century English for you, which is
Decades, perhaps centuries ago, African-American varieties of going to sound a little like pirate speak, for reasons we’ll explore later.
English adopted a version of the word ask that puts the two The vowels are going to sound very strange to you. Caxton lived in the
consonants in a different order, ax.
first decades of a massive reorganization of the English vowel system that
In formal and informal studies, property owners screening potential didn’t really end until the 18th century.
renters over the phone have been observed steering conversations
in such a way as to get applicants to use that word. When the ax Listen for what Caxton has to say about the fact that English speakers of
pronunciation comes out, renters are disproportionately told that his time had two words for the tasty thing that comes out of a chicken: egg,
properties are no longer available or have become more expensive. which was used in roughly the North of England, and ey in the South.
Link And above all, listen for Caxton’s version of present-day ask.
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