English 306A; Harris Intro.pps/pdf. English 306A; Harris Language properties Parity Universality...

English 306A; Harris

Intro.pps/pdf


Language properties

ParityUniversalityMutabilityTacitnessDisplacementDualityProductivity (creativity)


Parity

All languages are equal.


Universality

All grammars share some basic properties.

•Words• Nouns• Verbs

•Sentences • Assertions• Questions

•Semantic roles• Agents• Patients• Locations


Mutability

Languages change.

cool neat groovy far-out radical cool


Tacitness

A great deal of grammatical knowledge is tacit knowledge.

[p] vs [ph] vs [p¬]


Charles Hockett’s ‘Design Features’

There is...a sense in which [productivity], displacement, and duality...can be regarded as the crucial, or nuclear, or central properties of human language.


Displacement

Messages can refer to things remote in time and space, or both, from the site of the communication.


Duality of patterning

At every level: elements and combinatorics

• Sounds combine into syllables and morphemes

• Morphemes combine into words• Words combine into phrases and sentences• Sentences combine into

turns or paragraphs• Turns combine into

conversations• Paragraphs combine into

texts


Elements + combinatorics =

Language


Language properties

ParityUniversalityMutabilityTacitnessDisplacementDualityProductivity (creativity)


Signs

Meaning conveyances

• Symbolic

• Iconic

• Indexical


Mutability

Historical linguistics

ChangesLinguistic study

• Reconstruction• Language families

Origins


History of English

greaser far outdude outasitekeen rilly

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Homo Heidelbergensis

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History of English

greaser far outdude outasitekeen rilly

Aetalects!

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History of English

night coughknight nameknee mayhaps


Early modern EnglishI am no orator, as Brutus is;But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,That love my friend; and that they know full wellThat gave me public leave to speak of him:For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,To stir men's blood

Julius Caesar, c1599

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Middle English (London)Whan that Aprill, with his shoures sooteThe droghte of March hath perced to the rooteAnd bathed every veyne in swich licour,Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

...Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages

The Canterbury Tales, c1380

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Middle English (Northumberland)

Si†en †e sege and †e assaut watz sesed at Troye,†e bor° brittened and brent to bronde and askez,†e tulk †at †e trammes of tresoun †er wro°tWatz tried for his tricherie, †e trewest on erthe

The Green Knight, c1380

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Regiolects!

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Regiolects!

Sociolects!

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Sociolects!

Ethnolects!

Regiolects!

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Language variation

Idiolects!


Language variation

Hey, who you callin’ an idiolect, dorkosaurus?


Language variation

Different persons growing up in the same language are like different bushes trimmed and trained to take the shape of identical elephants. The anatomical details of twigs and branches will fulfill the elephantine form differently from bush to bush, but the overall outward results are alike.


Language variation

Different persons growing up in the same language are like different bushes trimmed and trained to take the shape of identical elephants. The anatomical details of twigs and branches will fulfill the elephantine form differently from bush to bush, but the overall outward results are alike.

W.V.O. Quine


Old English (aka Anglo-Saxon)

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard, meotodes meahte, and his modge†anc, weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs, ece drihten, or onstealde.

Caedmon’s hymn, c670

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1066


1066

Substratum (under-level)Germanic (Angles, Saxons

etc.)king, law, deer, cow, cock, piss, …

Superstratum (over-level)Latinate (Norman French)

monarch, justice, venison, beef, penis, urinate, …


Mutability

Language change

Internal(isolation,

fashion, prestige, …)

External(trade, war,

imperialism, …)


Internal(isolation,

fashion, prestige, …)

External(trade, war,

imperialism, …)

PhonologicalMorphologicalLexicalSyntacticSemantic

Mutability

Language change


What changes

Modern English

dog

Middle English

hound


What changes: radial networks


Radial networks

A network with a defining centre (usually called “the prototype” of the network)


Changes in a semantic radial network

hyponym / hypernym shiftsModern English

dog

… poodle hound spaniel …

Toy, French, … Grey, Blood, … Springer, Cocker, …

Middle English

hound

… dog poodle spaniel …

Mastiff, Basset, … Toy, French, … Springer, Cocker, …


Middle English

hound



hyponym and hypernym

hyponym

hypernym hyponym

hypernym


Modern English

dog


Toy, French, … Grey, Blood, … Springer, Cocker, …hyponym

hypernymhyponym

hypernym

hyponym and hypernym


Modern English

dog


Toy, French, … Grey, Blood, … Springer, Cocker, …

Middle English

hound



Changes in a semantic radial network

hyponym / hypernym shifts


Shrinkage of a semantic radial network

polysemy —> monosemy

Mete1. a. Any comestible.

b. Solid comestibles.2. Edible portions of

fruits, nuts, eggs, ….

3. Animal flesh for food.

4. A meal.

Meat


Mete1. a. Any comestible.

b. Solid comestibles.2. Edible portions of

fruits, nuts, eggs, ….

3. Animal flesh for food.

4. A meal.

Meat‘many-meaning’ —> ‘single-meaning’

Shrinkage of a semantic radial network

polysemy —> monosemy


Mutability

Subtotal

History of English• Periods• Events

Pressures to change• Internal/external• Aeta-, regio-, socio-, ethno-

lects

Objects of change• Individual elements• Radial networks


Objects of change• Individual elements• Radial networks

Language families• Indo-European• Pre-Indo-European

Origins• Lexical theories• Language theories

Writing systems• Concept-to-sound migration

Origins and varieties of languages


Philology

• Looking at texts for noteworthy signifier/signified linkages

• Contrast and compare


Philology

Language families

Englishfathermotherbrothersisterkingmilk meat

GermanVaterMutterBruder

SchwesterKönigMilch

Fleisch


Language families

English German Latin SanskritModern Old

father faeder Vater pater pitarmother modor Mutter mater matar

fish fisc Fisch pisces patan

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Grimm’s law




Proto-Germanic

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Grimm’s law




Proto-Germanic

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hypothetical, reconstructedlanguage


Grimm’s law




Germanic family

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Language families




Germanic IndicItalicFamilies

Philo-logicalevidence

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Proto-Indo-European (*PIE)






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Indo-European






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Indo-European family


Bow-wow theory

Language arose from onomatopoeia

Making noises to represent elements in the environment: animals, rain, expulsive gas, …

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Pooh-pooh theory(AKA the ouch theory)

Language arose from spontaneous emotional noises

Sighs, moans, cries, ejections of surprise, fear, delight, …

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Yo-he-ho theory

Language arose in muscular and rhythmic efforts accompanying group work

Gathering, distributing, distance-pursuit of prey, …

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Bow-wow-pooh-pooh-yo-he-ho theories

• Lexical theories• Index-to-icon-to-

symbol theories• Not mutually

exclusive(Only Yo-he-ho includes rhythm, sequence, structure)


Bow-wow-pooh-pooh-yo-he-ho theories

Onomasiological migration theories

Index-to-icon-to-symbol


Neuron-packing “theory”

• Neural-density, big-bang theory• Non-lexical• Non-social


Throwing madonna theory

• Nursing (left-side)• Motor/linguistic

sequencing• Structural• Non-lexical• Piggy-backing theory

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Yadda-yadda-yadda theory

Language is verbal grooming

human tribes too big, social bonds too intricate, to manage them physically

Social theory, non-lexical

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Historical linguisticsLanguages change over time

• external (war, imperialism, trade, …)• internal (fashion, prestige, isolation, …)

Categorical changes• radial networks (phonological, lexical, …)

Genealogical relationships• language families• reconstructed proto-languages

Language origins• lots of guesses, no clear solutions• Lexical and non-lexical variants

English 306A; Harris Intro.pps/pdf. English 306A; Harris Language properties Parity Universality...

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