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Today’s Plan
• Course introduction
LING1000
Introduction to Language • What is linguistics?

Lecture 1
• Reading for next class:
Introduction;
• Yule (2006), Ch. 2 ‘Animals and human language’
What is linguistics?

O. Lam
osclam@hku.hk
Sept. 4, 2019 (Wed)

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Linguistics

Linguistics is the scientific study of
language.

Scientific methods

Collect data -> Observe -> Describe ->
What is linguistics? Explain/propose hypotheses -> Predict

One of the key functions of language is for

us to communicate with one another.

Sounds

Words

Sentences
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• Meaningful sound segments in a language called ‘phonemes’ are

combined to form words.
(1) /k/, /æ/, /t/ -> /kæt/

• To express the meaning of ‘more than one cat’, the morpheme –s (4) The cat chased the mouse. Syntax
is added to the word cat.
| |
• A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of a word.
(2) a. cat-s cat-s Morphology
b. *s-cat | |
/kæts/ Phonology
• Words are combined to form sentences.
(3) a. The cat chased the mouse.

b. The mouse chased the cat.

c.*Cat the chased mouse the.

Source of picture:
https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1149102-
tom-and-jerry

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What do we study in linguistics? Form & meaning

• Branches of linguistics
• Each linguistic form denotes a meaning.
• Phonetics
• form
• The study of speech sounds |
• What are the features of speech sounds? How are they classified? meaning

• Phonology • A well-formed sentence can be completely meaningless.

• The study of sound patterns (5) Colourless green ideas sleep furiously. (Chomsky 1957)
• What are the possible and impossible combinations of speech sounds in a
language? (6) Naming objects
• English: flower
• Cantonese: faa 花
• Morphology • Mandarin Chinese: hua 花
• The study of word structure • French: fleur
• How are words formed and understood? FORM MEANING/ CONCEPT

• Syntax • The same concept is expressed by different (spoken) forms in different

languages.
• The study of sentence structure
• How are sentences formed and understood?
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Form & meaning What do we study in linguistics?

(7) Examples from (Fromkin et al. 2017:3)
• Semantics
taka ‘hawk’ in Japanese
• The study of meaning
‘fist’ in Quechua
‘a small bird’ in Zulu • How is meaning derived?
‘money’ in Bengali
• Pragmatics
• The same (spoken) form has different meanings in different • The study of ‘how context affects meaning’ (Fromkin et al.
languages. 2017:134)
(9) Can you open the door?
• The relationship between form (written or spoken) and meaning is
usually arbitrary. (10) a. Let’s have lunch together after class.
b. (i) There’s this great place in Sai Wan.
• Speakers of the same speech community agree that a particular (ii) I have to prepare for my next class.
form denotes a certain meaning.
• convention
• Language & the brain
• How is language processed by the human brain?

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What do we study in linguistics? What do we study in linguistics?

• Language development/ language acquisition • Language & culture
• How do children learn to speak and understand language? • Is language influenced by culture?
• Does the language we speak influence the way we see the world?

• Sociolinguistics
• Linguistic typology
• How is language used in society?
• How are languages classified?
• Do different groups use language differently?
• Are languages A and B similar or different? How do linguists
decide?
• 7097 living languages (Simons and Fennig 2018)
• http://www.ethnologue.com
• Language documentation and preservation
• Language families
• Cantonese/ Mandarin Chinese: Sino-Tibetan
• English: Indo-European
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Do we have to speak many languages to

study linguistics?
Additional information
• No. • Leipzig Glossing Rules
• Linguists have developed ways to talk about languages that • https://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/resources/glossing-rules.php
they do not know.
(11) Swahili • Jyutping 粵拼
Line 1: linguistic data ni-na-ku-penda • The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanisation
Line 2: glosses 1SG.SBJ-PRS-2SG.OBJ-like Scheme
Line 3: free translation ‘I like/love you.’ • Romanisation system developed by the Linguistic Society of
Hong Kong (LSHK)
(12) Cantonese • https://www.lshk.org/jyutping
Line 1: linguistic data 你 食-咗
咗 飯 未 呀？
nei5 sik6-zo2 faan5 mei6 aa3?
Line 2: glosses 2SG eat-PRF rice yet SFP
Line 3: free translation ‘Have you eaten?’

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Why are linguists interested in linguistics? Reminders

• How does the human mind process language? • 1. Sign up for tutorials.
• From 9 a.m. on Sept. 9 (next Mon.) to 5:00 p.m. on Sept. 16
(Mon)
• How does the human mind work?

• 2. Get your own handout from moodle before next class.

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References
Chomsky, Noam. (1957) Syntactic Structures. The Hague/Paris:
Mouton.
Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2017). An introduction to
language. Boston, MA.: Cengage Learning.
Simons, G. F. and C. D. Fennig (eds.). (2018). Ethnologue:
Languages of the World, Twenty-first edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL
International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com.