A summary of General Linguistic 178's lectures and textbook. Summarising term 1: Foundation of linguistics, First Language Acquisition, and Communication & Semiotics.
Foundation of linguistics, First
Language Acquisition, and
Communication & Semiotics Notes
By: Katelyn Wijtenburg
1
Katelyn Wijtenburg
, Foundations
Questions about language:
1. What are the functions of human language?
2. What does it involve to know a language?
3. How is language used/ misused in different contexts?
4. How is language structured?
5. How did language structured?
6. Is it still possible for new languages to develop?
7. Where in the brain is language found?
8. How do children acquire their first language?
9. How do people acquire a second/ further language?
10. Can animals learn (a) human language?
11.How do “animal languages” and human languages differ?
12. Which properties are shared by all human languages?
13. How do human languages differ from each other?
14. How do languages influence each other?
15. How and why do languages change?
16. Are there (still) “primitive” languages? (no- no such thing)
17. How do languages die?
Number of languages
There are approximately 6000 – (7111) languages. Half of these languages will have died out by the
end of the century. 1 language dies every 14 days.
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Katelyn Wijtenburg
,Five largest languages in the world:
English
Chinese (Mandarin/Modern Simplified)
Spanish
French
Arabic
What are the functions of human language?
1) Communication
Process of linguistic communication
Message model of communication
-> Language as a means or instrument:
Which makes encoding possible.
The “transfer”/ “packing” of imperceptible ideas/ thoughts into a perceptible code.
Which makes decoding possible.
The “unpacking” of imperceptible ideas/ thoughts from a perceptible code.
-> Assumptions of the message mode:
Language is a mental system which is used to convey info through encoding and decoding
of meaning.
Container metaphor: linguistic expressions (words/ sentences) are like containers into
which info is packed (encoded) and which can be sent to someone else, and from which the
info can be unpacked (decoded) exactly as it was sent.
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Katelyn Wijtenburg
, Within the message model, misunderstandings and communication breakdown can be due
to imperfect/ careless encoding or decoding.
Verbal communication has an informative function, made possible by encoding & decoding
of linguistic meaning.
-> Language can be used to convey factual info. This function can be described as:
Representational:
describe things or states of affairs, report or record events.
-> First problem with the message model:
Besides the representational use of language, verbal communication has several other
functions- which cannot be accounted for within the message model.
-> Second problem with the message model:
Verbal communication involves more than the mere encoding/ decoding of linguistic
meaning.
o E.g. He is dead.
Who does he refer to?
What does speaker mean by dead? (like tired, actually dead…)
How is the utterance intended to be understood?
Statement or fact?
Threat?
Reassurance?
Negative judgement?
Speakers/ writers normally “mean” more ( & sometimes something
completely different) than what their words and sentences “mean”
Distinguish between linguistic meaning 7 speaker/ writer’s meaning. (what
they intend to communicate with their utterances.)
To recover speaker’s intended meaning, the hearer has to make use of facts/
clues/ guidelines provided by the linguistic utterances used by the speaker &
the context in which they have been used.
Other communicative functions of language
Persuasive:
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Katelyn Wijtenburg
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