Basic notions of language

Dr. Jessie Grace U Rubrico Faculty of Education University of Malaya

Form – Meaning Pair

sounds

words

signs meaning

symbols

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

thoughts

world views

culture

TESL Program University of Malaya

Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

medium of thought

vehicle for

cultural transmission

TESL Program University of Malaya

Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

national language policy

a factor in nation building

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

PBGS 6304 University of Malaya TESL Program Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

cognitive

social

cultural

political TESL Program University of Malaya

Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

medium of thinking

shaping thoughts/ideas

facilitating

thought processes TESL Program University of Malaya

Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

communication

bias

alienation

diversity

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

record

embodiment

conveyance

ethnicity nurture

- language death = culture death - languages: living, dying/endangered, dead/extinct

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

contributes to nation building

marks prestige power conquest

TESL Program University of Malaya

Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

arbitrariness

productivity

creativity/flexibility

displacement

cultural transmission

rule-governed TESL Program University of Malaya

Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

Symbols are arbitrary :

- different languages have different terms to represent the same things

Example: money/currency

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

The potential number of utterances, as well as the number of words and meanings in human languages is practically infinite. The girl ate the sandwich.

The little girl ate the sandwich. The pretty little girl ate the sandwich. The pretty little girl ate the egg sandwich her mother prepared for lunch yesterday. . .

TESL Program University of Malaya

Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

new utterances to be created

new thoughts, experiences, situations

new meanings to old words

semantic broadening

semantic narrowing

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

email /email address screensaver unfriend

e-book TESL Program University of Malaya

Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

word meaning narrows to something specific.

- litter: 'a bed” (before1300)

> 'bedding‘ > 'animals on a bedding

of straw’ > things scattered about,

odds and ends. . . Source: Sol Steinmetz. (2008). Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change

Meanings. Random House.

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

Guido (Guy) Fawkes led the plot to blow up the English Houses of Parliament in 1605.

> refers to any "person of grotesque appearance" – after the burning of Fawkes‘ effigy

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

20th century, refers to a ‗man‘ (American popular culture)

replaces "fellow," "bloke," "chap," etc. in English-speaking world

refers to a group of men and women :

―Let‘s go for it, guys!‖

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

advent of computers— mouse window keyboard

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

real or unreal

past

future present

Chinese baby in England raised by a British family > speaks English not Chinese.

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

sentences

phrases

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

•knowledge of L1 •description of L1 competence

• use of L1 knowledge performance

transactional medium: lingua franca

transaction = result.

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

learning language to explore works of literature –

Greek for the works of Homer or Socrates

Hebrew & Greek to study the Bible

Arabic to read the Quoran

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

some religions prefer their scriptures written and read in their original, unadulterated form

Arabic for Muslims learn religion

Latin for Christian liturgy

Sanskrit for Hindu liturgy

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

language : expression of culture -things that belong to a culture

can only be expressed fully and properly in the language that is the basis of that culture.

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

struggle between peoples ethnically the same but divided by language and religion

- the Basques and Spaniards in Spain;

Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka; the anti-Tagalism of some ethnolinguistic

groups in the Philippines

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

colonizers generally make the population of their colonies speak their language

- access to opportunities, etc.

Filipinos learned languages of their colonizers: Spanish and English.

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

language is a state of mind internalized self-images, abstract and suggestive Bilinguals: language of the heart [experienced]; language of the head [remembered]

TESL Program University of Malaya

Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

alienate or discriminate against individuals/groups.

promote certain agenda: advertisers, politicians and all those trying to influence opinion

language bias - imbalance in language use;

preference of a language over another.

TESL Program University of Malaya Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

O'Grady, William D., Archibald, John, (eds.). (2009). Contemporary Linguistic Analysis: An Introduction, 6th edition. Ontario: Pearson Education Canada.

Yule G. (2006). The study of language. Cambridge: CUP http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/broadenterm.htm