BOOK: Yule, G. (2010). The study of Language. U.K.: CUP.
Chapter 1: "The origin of Language"
There is not register that can indicate how language originated, but it is suspected that some spoken language must have developed between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago.
THE DIVINE SOURCE
In most religions, there appears to be a divine source who provides humans with language. The hypothesis is that if infants grow up without hearing any language, they would spontaneously begin using the original God - given language. The experiment had been tried by letting babies grew up without language but this theory has not been proven.
The Natural Sound Source
This theory set that primitive words may have been imitations of the natural sounds early humans heard around them. What supports this theory is that modern languages have many words that sound like their names. However, it does not explain what happens with soundless things or abstract objects.
Social Interaction Source
Also called the yo-he-ho theory, humans may have developed grunts and hums used when they were carrying trees or lifeless animals. They must have lived in groups, so they needed some type of communication to be organized.
The Tool Making Source
The functions for object manipulation and vocalization are very close to each other in the left hemisphere of the brain, so there may be an evolutionary connection between tool using and language using.
THE PHYSICAL ADAPTATION SOURCE
In the study of evolutionary development there are certain physical features which appear to be relevant for speech.
Human teeth are upright, not slanting outwards like those of apes, and they are roughly even. Such characteristics are very helpful in making sounds such as F or V.
Human lips have more muscle and flexibility that helps in making sounds like P or B.
The human mouth is relatively small, can be opened and closed rapidly. It contains a smaller, thicker and more muscular tongue which can be used to shape a wide variety of sounds.
The larynx or voice box contains the vocal folds. The position of the larynx dropped to a lower position creates a cavity called the pharynx. The pharynx acts as a resonator and increases the range and clarity of sounds.
THE GENETIC SOURCE
Innateness hypothesis: humans are born with a special capacity for language, it is innate and it isn't tied to a specific variety of language.
Chapter 2: "Animals and human language"
Communication
We should distinguish between communicative signals and informative signals. On the one hand, informative signals are those which we do not intentionally send. For example one may notice that someone has a cold because that person sneezed. On the other hand, communicative signals are those which are intentionally sent, that is to say, we use language to tell something to a person. for example, you may say that you are applying for a job.
It is considered that an animal is sending a message only when it means to do so. So we consider language in terms of their potential as a means of intentional communication.
Properties of human language
All creatures communicate in some way, but they are not reflecting on the way they create their communicative messages as humans do.
We are able to use language to think and talk about language itself. This is reflexivity. Without this, we wouldn't be able to identify any of the other distinct Properties of human language.
DISPLACEMENT
Humans are capable of referring to past and future time. This ability is called displacement, this allows people to talk about things, events and places that are not present in that moment, and even to talk about things and places that we are not sure they exist. Animal communication seems to be designed exclusively for the moment, they can not refer to another time.
ARBITRARINESS
It is the relationship between linguistic signs and objects. The connection that exists between a word and its meaning. For example, the word “dog” has no natural relationship with the animal. Animal signals are non-arbitrary.
Productivity
Humans are continually producing new expressions and utterances by manipulating their linguistic resources It means that the potential number of utterances is infinite.
However, it is not possible for creatures to produce new signals. Their communication has a fixed set of signals, and. they can not manipulate it to create a new message. This is called fixed reference .
Cultural transmission
We do not inherit our language, we acquire language in a culture with other speakers. This is a process in which language is passed on from one generation to the other. Moreover, humans are born with some kind of predisposition to acquire language. In contrast, creatures are born with a set of specific signals that are produced instinctively. So we can say that cultural transmission is crucial in the human acquisition process.
DUALITY
Is the double articulation of human language. In speech production humans are capable of producing individual sounds that don't have any intrinsic meaning (n, b, i), the combination of those particular sounds can create a distinct meaning (bin). This feature of the human language allows us to produce a large number of combinations with a limited set of individual sounds.
TALKING TO ANIMALS
We have an unique communication system that other creatures can not understand. But, what happens when we ask a dog to “sit” and it does? We could thing that the dog understands what we are saying, however animals produce a particular behaviour in response to a particular sound-stimulus or noise, but do not understand what the words mean.
Chimpanzee and language
In 1930s, two scientists raised an infant chimpanzee together with their baby son. Gua was able to understand about a hundred words but didn't say any of them.
In 1940s another chimpanzee called Viki was reared by another scientist couple. They spent five years attempting to get Viki to say English words by trying to shape her mouth as she produced sounds. She eventually managed to produce some words.
The thing is that apes, gorillas and chimpanzees can communicate with vocal calls but they can't make human speech sounds.
Washoe
A scientist couple taught a female chimpanzee called Washoe to use American sign language. They raised Washoe like a Human child in a domestic environment.
Sign language was always used when she was around. In a period of three and a half years, Washoe came to use signs for more than a hundred words. She also has the ability to take these forms and combine them to produce sentences.
Sarah and Lana
At the same time Washoe was learning sign language another two chimpanzees were learning in different ways.
Sarah learned to communicate through a set of plastic shapes that represented words, she learned to associate these shapes with objects or actions (if she selected a blue triangle she would get an apple). Lana learned a language called Yerkish, it consisted of a set of symbols on a keyboard linked to a computer.
These look like the chimpanzees were able to use words symbols and basic structures in ways that resemble the use of language. However, it has been pointed out that when Lana used the word please she did not understand the meaning of please.
Kanzi
Kanzi was a baby chimpanzee adopted by a bonobo named Matata. He had learnt how to use a symbol system by accident, just by being exposed and observing.
THE CONTROVERSY
The psychologist Herbert Terrace argued that chimpanzees simply produce signs in response to people's demands. After working with Nim, a chimpanzee, Terrace concluded that chimpanzees were clever creatures who learned to produce a behavior to get a reward.
The Gardness argued that Washoe could recognize objects in a picture even without human interaction. they also argue that Nim did not lived in a domestic environment like Washoe, and that even without humans present, the chimpanzees communicate in sign language.
CONCLUSION
What counts as language?
Language serves as a type of communication system that can be observed in different situations. If a child interacts with an adult and a chimpanzee interact with humans, we can say that both of them are using language. However, the child can develop a system of sounds, structures and procedures that will allow the child to produce extended discourse, no other creature can use language in this way.
(chapter I prepared)
Family trees:
Sir William Jones (British government in India) suggests that a number of languages from very different geographical areas must have a common ancestor.
It was clear, however, that this common ancestor could not be described from any existing records but had to be hypothesized through the study of the different languages that were believed to be descendants. Evaluating if they shared certain features in common.
A term came into use to describe that common ancestor. This term incorporated the notion that this was the original form (proto) of a language that was the source of modern languages in the Indian subcontinent (indo) and in Europe (European). “Proto-Indo-European language” was called.
With this new term, Scholars set out to identify the branches of the Indo-European family tree, tracing the lineage of many modern languages.
A family tree traces the lineage of modern languages
Family connections (flor):
Cognates:
To establish a family connection it is necessary to look at what are called Cognates. A cognate of a word in one language is a word in another language that has a similar form and IS or WAS used with a similar meaning. (transparent words).
Looking at different cognates of different languages, we may know which is their common ancestor and the name of their branch in the family tree.
Comparative reconstruction (flor):
Sound reconstruction:
To make a start on comparative reconstruction, it is crucial to begin deciding what was the most likely form of an initial sound in the original source of different languages.
Example: a)Cantare b) cantar c) chanter...
We can clearly notice that the initial sounds of the words in languages A and B are all /k/ sounds, while in language C the initial sounds are all /sh/ sounds.
Following the Majority Principle we can say that the initial sound in A and B is older than the /sh/ sounds in lg C. According to the “Most Natural development principle”, change tends to occur in the direction of STOPS BECOMING FRICATIVES. So, the /k/ sound is likely to have been the original.
Middle English:
The event that marks the end of the Old English period, and the beginning of the Middle English period, is the arrival of the Norman French in England.
These French-speaking invaders became the ruling class, so that the language of the Nobility, the Government, the Law and civilised life in England, for the next two hundred years was French. It is the source of words like “army”, “court”, “defence”, “faith”, “prison” and “tax”. The language of the Peasant remained English. They worked on the land and reared sheep, cows and swine (words of Old English) while the upper classes talked about mutton, beef and pork. Throughout this period, French became the prestige language.
In the two hundred years, from 1400 to 1600, the sounds of English underwent a change known as the Great Vowel Shift: Raising of Long Vowel sounds. There were 2 types of influence:
Influences from the outside, such as the borrowed words from Norman French are examples of External change in the language.
Those changes that occurred within the historical development of English are called Internal changes.
Sound changes (flor):
Syntactic changes:
Some noticeable differences between the structure of sentences in Old and Modern English involve word order.
In Old English texts we find the Subject-Verb-Object order most common in Modern English, but there are a number of different orders that are no longer used.
Subject could follow the verb
The Object could be placed before the Verb or at the beginning of the sentence.
Double negative construction was also possible.
Semantic changes:
The most obvious way in which Modern English differs from Old English is in the number of borrowed words that have come into the language since the Old English period. Less obviously, many words have ceased to be used. Since we no longer carry swords, the word “foin” is no longer heard.
There are two processes:
Broadening: It happens when a term/word which was used to convey a specific meaning, now it is used to convey a general meaning. Example: Holy Day was used only to refer to a religious feast, now “holiday” refers to any type of break from work.
Narrowing: It happens when a word which was used to convey a general meaning, now it is used to convey a specific meaning. “Wife” could be used to refer to any woman but has narrowed in its application nowadays to only married women.
CHAPTER 18 - “Language and Regional Variation”
The Standard Language
What is it? It is an idealized variety and it has no specific region. It is commonly associated with administrative, commercial and educational centres. Furthermore, It is the variety we normally try to teach to those who want to learn English as a second or foreign language.The most common variations are: Standard American English and Standard British English.
Accent and Dialect
Whether we think we speak a standard variety of English or not, we all speak with an
accent.
Accent: The description of aspects of pronunciation that identify where an individual speaker is from (socially or regionally). We ALL have an accent, some more noticeable than others.
Dialect: Used to describe aspects of grammar and vocabulary as well as aspects of pronunciation. A particular form of a language from a specific region or social group.
Dialectology: The study of dialects to distinguish between two different dialects of the same language (speakers understand each other) and two different languages (speakers can't understand each other).
Regional Dialects
Some regional dialects clearly have stereotyped pronunciations associated with them.
Beyond that, those involved in the serious investigation of regional dialects do a lot of survey research to the identification of consistent features of speech found in one geographical area compared to another. They operate with very specific criteria. After all, it is important to know if the person whose speech you are recording really is a typical representative of the region’s dialect.
Isoglosses and Dialect Boundaries
Isoglosses: Represents a boundary between the areas with regard to that one particular linguistic item.
Dialect Boundary: When a number of isoglosses come together, a more solid line indicating a dialect boundary, can be drawn, separating each area.
The Dialect Continuum: At most dialect boundary areas, one dialect or language variety merges into another. We can view regional variation as existing along a dialect continuum rather than as having sharp breaks from one region to the next.
[ Speakers who move back and forth across this border area, using different varieties with some ease, may be described as bidialectal (i.e. “speaking two dialects”). ]
Bilingualism & Diglossia
Bilingualism: At the level of a minority group, a member of it grows up in one linguistic community, mainly speaking one language, but learns another language in order to participate of a larger dominant linguistic community. Individual bilingualism, however, can simply be the result of having two parents who speak different languages; the distinction between the two languages may not even be noticed by the child.
Diglossia: It involves two distinct varieties of language. There is a “low” variety, acquired locally and used for everyday affairs, and a "high” or special variety, learned in school and used for important matters.
Language Planning
This planning involves about FOUR PROCESSES:
The process of “selection” (choosing an official language) is followed by “codification”, in which basic grammars, dictionaries and written models are used to establish the standard variety.
The process of “elaboration” follows, with the standard variety being developed for use in all aspects of social life and literary works.
The process of “implementation” is largely a matter of government attempts to encourage use of the standard.
The final stage is “acceptance”, when a substantial majority of the population have come to use the standard and to think of it as the national language, playing a part in not only social, but also national identity.
Pidgins & Creoles
In some areas, the standard chosen may be a variety that originally had no native speakers in the country. This language might be used by over a million people now, but it began many years earlier as a kind of “contact” language called a pidgin.
Pidgin: It is a variety of a language that developed for a practical purpose (ex. trading, business), between people who had a lot of contact, but who didn’t know each other’s languages. As such, it has no native speakers. The origin of the term “pidgin” is thought to be from a Chinese version of the English word “business.”
Creole: When a pidgin develops beyond its role as a trade or contact language and becomes the first language of a social community it becomes a 'Creole'. A creole initially develops as the first language of children growing up in a pidgin-using community and becomes more complex as it serves more communicative purposes. Thus, unlike pidgins, creoles have large numbers of native speakers and are not restricted at all in their uses.
The Post-Creole Continuum
Creolization: development from a pidgin to a creole.
Decreolization: a retreat from the use of the creole by those who have greater contact with a standard variety of the language.
When people acquire higher education (which is associated with a «higher variety» language), they tend to use less creole structures and forms. This leads to a variety that is closer to the external standard model, and leaves a basic variety with more local creole features. Between these two extremes may be a range of slightly different varieties, some with many and some with fewer creole features. This range of varieties, evolving after (“post”) the creole has come into existence, is called the post-creole continuum.
Language and regional variation by Mariana Gimenez CHAPTER 19 - Language and Social Variation
Certain uses of language are more likely to be found in the speech of some individuals in society and not others. We are also aware of the fact that people who live in the same region, but who differ in terms of education and economic status, often speak in quite different ways. The study of the linguistic features that have social relevance for participants in those speech communities is called sociolinguistics. This term is used for the study of the relationship between language and society. Also, It has strong connections with anthropology, psychology and sociology.
It is divided into three important parts: Social dialects, education and occupations, and social markers.
On the one hand, social dialects are mainly concerned with speakers in towns and cities. There are two main classes:
Middle class
Working-class
So when we refer to “working-class speech” we are talking about a social dialect. The terms “upper” and “lower” are used to subdivide the groups, making “upper-middle-class speech” another type of social dialect or sociolect.
Pronunciations, words or structures that are regularly used in one form by working-class speakers and in another form by middle-class speakers. An example may be the verb “ain’t” as in “I ain’t finished yet” which is more often a feature of working-class speech than middle-class speech.
A personal dialect or idiolect is an individual way of speaking where we generally tend to sound like others with whom we share similar educational backgrounds or occupations. For example, expressions like “Them boys throwed somethin’” or “”it wasn’t us what done it” are generally associated with speakers who have spent less time in education. Those who spend more time in the educational system tend to have more features in their spoken language that derive from the written language and instead of using throwed and what, they would use threw and who.
Social markers mark a person as a member of a particular social group of having some features in their speech. An example may be the final pronunciation of -ing with “n” rather than “ŋ” at the end of the words such as “making” and “doing” or “h” dropping. These grammatical features are typically used by working class
The most basic distinction in speech style, which is a social feature of language use, is between formal uses and informal uses.
On the one hand, the formal style is when we pay more careful attention to the way we are speaking. On the other hand, informal style is when we pay less attention also known as “careful” or “casual” style. The change from one to another is called style shifting.
Another important aspect of language and social variation is the speech style and the style shifting and when we talk about speech style the most basic distinction is between formal uses and informal uses, also called careful style and casual style. On the one hand in formal or careful style, people pay more attention to How they are speaking, on the other hand in informal or casual style, people are paying less attention to language structures.
In the speech style we can find:
PRESTIGE
it is a way of explaining the direction in which certain individuals change their speech.
When that change is in the direction of a form that is more frequent in the speech of those perceived to have higher social status, we are dealing with overt prestige,There is, however, another phenomenon called covert prestige certain groups do not exhibit style-shifting to the same extent as other groups. Many lower-working-class speakers do not change their speech style from casual to careful as radically as lower-middle-class speakers.
When there is an influence by the perception of the listeners there is a SPEECH ACCOMMODATION in which We can adopt a speech style to reduce social distance named convergence.In contrast, when a speech style is used to emphasize social distance it is named divergence.
Another influence on speech style that is tied to social identity derives from REGISTER. A register is a conventional way of using language that is appropriate in a specific context, which may be identified as situational (e.g. in church), occupational (e.g. among lawyers) or topical (e.g. talking about language).
SLANG is more typically used among those who are outside established higher-status groups. Slang, or “colloquial speech,” describes words or phrases that are used instead of more everyday terms among younger speakers and other groups with special interests.
In much of the preceding discussion, we have been reviewing research on social variation based mainly on examples from British English and what we might call “European” American English. Labeling one general social variety according to the historical origins of the speakers allows us to put it in contrast with another major variety called African American English (AAE). Also known as Black English
. It has a number of characteristic features that, taken together, form a distinct set of social markers.
Vernacular language is a general expression for a kind of social dialect, typically spoken by a lower-status group, which is treated as “non-standard” because of marked differences from the “standard” language
The sounds of a vernacular, here we can find reduction of final consonant clusters, so that words ending in two consonants are often pronounced as if there is only one
Example: left hand turns to lef han
*Past tense -ed
Example: I passed the test turns to I pass the tess
*Initial dental consonants are frequently pronounced as alveolar stops
Example: Think turns to tink
* Morphological features, such as possessive ´s and third person singular are not used
Example: Jhon girlfriend / she love him
The grammar of a vernacular
*Double negative construction
Example: He don´t know nothin
*Absence of forms of the verb to be
Example: She workin now
*To talk about a habitual action that started or happened in the past AAVE uses bin
Example: She bin workin there
Throughout this entry, it is noticeable the overlapping of the two main types of science: Social and Natural Sciences. Thanks to different theories about human beings' evolution, we now know that organisms change over time as a result of changes inheritable physical and behavioural traits. Our specie was very unlikely to the one we know nowadays. Today we are also aware of the fact that humans are close relatives to some kinds of monkeys, this can be noticed by looking at our evolutionary branch.
Even though things have changed a lot during these years, some things remain. We have always lived in groups and interacted among us. According to the Natural Sound Source, primitive humans developed sets of sound to communicate, which is believed that they were based on different nature sounds. So when the first humans heard a bird making a tweet-sound, they could have imitated that sound to tell one of their fellows that a bird has been passing by.
Therefore, languages began to form through the emission of sounds, the creation of little syllables and the use of body expression to convey different meanings. Philology is the social science which works on the study of language, and it is concerned about how language has changed throughout history. "Which was the original or the first language before those we already know?" this question is the trigger that has encouraged scholars to discover the "Proto-Indo-European language". With this new term, researchers set out to identify the branches of the Indo-European family tree, tracing the lineage of many modern languages and finding out the changes these languages suffered too. That is why we can notice some similarities among some languages.
Languages are constantly changing, and these variations are related to the region they belong to, to their cultural background and the needs of social communities. All of us speak with an accent which depends on where an individual speaker is from; dialects depend on it as well. As we already know, regional dialects have stereotyped pronunciations associated with them, and they can vary if people of the same region differ in terms of education and economic status. These different ways of speaking, according to people's social and economic status, are called social dialects.
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