Coventry University summer school 2019

1. 1
Summer school
Language, and the English
language
Simon Smith
School of Humanities

2. Questions about English, and
about language?
 What is language?
– Can only humans use language?
 What kind of language is English?
 Where does English come from?
 What makes English a global language?
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3. Essay assignment
 One week to write your essay
 It is related to the lesson today
 But you will do your own research
 Choice of two topics
 This PowerPoint is available online
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4. 4
Bee dancing
 Honey bees perform a sort of dance when they
return to the hive, after finding food, which
shows
– the direction relative to the sun
– the distance
– perhaps, the quality of the food source
 Is it a kind of language?

5. 5
Other animals
 Talking to horses and dogs (anyone?)
 Training chimpanzees
– Gua: “understood 100 words”
– Viki: could say mama, papa, etc
– Washoe: used sign language, made sentences
 Any other examples?
 Are the animals really using language?

6. 6
Do these count as language? Rank
0 to 10, in your opinion
 A person talking (rank 10)
 A dead fish with its mouth open (rank 0)
 Now rank these
– A person talking on the radio
– A parrot talking
– A dog wagging its tail
– Bees dancing
– A computer voice on the telephone
– Sign language used by deaf people
– Sign language used by hearing people
– Body language (for example, folding your arms)
– Sneezing
– Wearing odd socks (for example: one black, one green)

7. Choose one
 Bee dancing
 Training chimpanzees to speak
 Dolphin communication
 Give a 3 minute presentation
 First, watch:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1FY5
kL_zXU
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8. 8
A selection of Hockett’s design features for
language (1959)
1. Discreteness
– set of items that can be combined to communicate new ideas
– (items = sounds, words, tones…)
2. Grammar
– the way the discrete items can be combined
3. Displacement
– linguistic messages may refer to things remote in time and space,
or both, from the site of the communication
4. Productivity
– users can create and understand completely novel messages

9. 9
More design features (he actually described
15 altogether – can you guess 5, 8 and 9?)
5. Rapid Fading
– message does not linger in time or space after production
6. Interchangeability
– individuals who use a language can both send and receive any
permissible message within that communication system
7. Feedback
– users of a language can perceive what they are transmitting and
can make corrections if they make errors
8. Arbitrariness
– there is no logical connection between the form of the signal and
its meaning
9. Prevarication
– linguistic messages can be false, deceptive, or meaningless

10. Language families
 Are English and Russian related?
 Russian and Hindi?
 English and Chinese?
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11. 11

13. The creation of English
 The Germanic invaders (Angles, Saxons,
Jutes) arrived from 450 AD
– drove the Celtic ‘Britons’ out of England
– west to Wales
– and north to Scotland
 Their dialects were called Englisc
 English is a Germanic language
– related to Dutch, German, Swedish, Icelandic,
Danish

14. The creation of English
The Anglo-Saxon invasions (~450AD) (Source: BBC
[bbc.co.uk])

15. The ‘Norse’ invasions ~750AD
(Source: BBC [bbc.co.uk])
egg skin Rugby

16. William the Conqueror
 In 1066 the French invaded England
 Norman French became official language
 New French/Latin vocabulary in English
– perspire (cf. sweat); cuisine (cf. cooking)

17. Origins of English words
 Loan words
– Kung fu
– Jihad
– Dacha
– Glasnost
– …
 But two main sources
 Germanic
– From old languages of Northern Europe
 Graeco-Latin
– From Greek or Latin or both
Wikipedia: English language

18. Graeco-Latin vs Germanic
words
 Graeco-Latin words are often
– Specialist
– Technical
– Scientific
– Academic
– Learned
– Posh
– Longer
 Germanic words are often
– ordinary
– shorter

19. Quiz: which words are
Germanic?
 discover
 intelligent
 deep
 foretell
 altitude
 help
 leave
 error
 wage
 pork
 find
 clever
 profound
 predict
 height
 assist
 depart
 mistake
 salary
 pig

20. Russian words in English
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balaclava
samovar
sable
cosmonaut mammoth
vodka
blini
Are there
any
English
words in
Russian?

21. Is English a global language?
 English is an official language in more than
70 countries
 Language of
– air traffic control
– science and technology
– business and diplomacy
 used by large numbers of
non-native speakers
– as a lingua franca

22. How many people speak English?
 Approximately 350 million+ native speakers
around world
 But Mandarin (955m) and Spanish (405m)
have more! (Ethnologue.org)
 1.5 billion (?) ‘use’ English as a ‘second’ or
‘other’ language
– or have ‘some level of competence in it’ (British
Council)
– or are learning it!

23. Why English?

24. The British Empire
24
Source: www.historum.com
Source: www.historum.com

25. What made English ‘go global’?
 Colonization:
 From 17C, British founded colonies around
the world, for example:
– India, the Caribbean, North America, Australia,
New Zealand, Africa
 English was used as the language of
administration (‘official language’)

26. After the end of colonization
 Still official language in many countries
 Its status as main language of the United
States
 Powerful economic and social reasons
 learning English seen as an asset to countries
and individuals

27. What does it mean to say ‘English is a
global language’?
A curious fact: In 1990, Namibia adopted
English as its official language

28. English as a ‘lingua franca’
 Namibia and many other countries have found
English to be a ‘useful’ language for national
(and regional) communication purposes
 Many languages in the past and today have
had ‘regional’ significance: Latin, Arabic,
Mandarin Chinese, Swahili…

29. Could English eventually kill off all
other languages?
 Minority languages are dying
– USA
– Australia
– UK
 These places are surrounded by English native
speakers
– who hold economic and political power
 But non-English speaking areas face language
death too
– South America
– China
– Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin dominate minority
languages
No Yes

30.  English is a lingua franca
– does not mean that it will become a ‘native language’
 Requirements for English to become a more
widespread native language
– Use at home
– Children acquire as first language
 A lingua franca is used for
– trade, government, media, education
– not ‘around the kitchen table’
 So Yes or No?
Could English eventually kill off all
other languages? No

31. Summary
 English has more ‘users’ than ‘native speakers’
– gap is likely to increase
 The rise of English to global status
– rise of England as a global power and colonizer between 17th and 19th
centuries
 This role continues today
– need for a ‘common language’ in an era of global communication
 The use of English as a lingua franca
– does not mean adoption as a native language by the children of its users
– so other languages won’t disappear!

32. Your assignment
 Answer ONE question:
– “Some animals can communicate using
language”. Discuss
– OR
– Will English lose its place as the main global
language?
 This PowerPoint is available online
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33. Simple essay structure
 Introduction
 Then
– 2 or 3 paragraphs stating your view
– 1 or 2 paragraphs stating the opposite view
 OR
– 4 or 5 paragraphs, 1 topic per paragraph
– State both views in each paragraph
 Conclusion
 References 33

34. Introduction
 Explanation of the issue (Why is it
important? Why is it interesting?)
 Statement of both sides of the issue
 Argumentative thesis statement
– State your position
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35. Main paragraphs
 Topic (main idea) sentence
 Reasons
 Facts
 Examples
 Evidence
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36. Conclusion
 Re-state thesis
– Your position
 Re-state argument 1
 Re-state argument 2
 Closing remarks
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37. Headings in essays
 Write the essay title at the top
 The introduction, main paragraphs and
conclusion don’t need headings
 The only heading is?
 References
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38. Finding evidence
 Academic sources
 Use Google Scholar, not normal Google
 Let’s find 2 useful articles using Google
Scholar
 Search for “Hockett design features”
– You can download the 1959 article
 Search for “English global language”
– You can download Seidlhofer’s short 2005 article
– It gives a lot of other useful sources
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39. State your sources
 In your essay
– Seidlhofer (2005) states that…
– According to Hockett (1959), the Design
Features…
 In your References at the end
– Seidlhofer, B. (2005) English as a lingua
franca. ELT Journal, 59(4), 339-341
– Hockett, C. F. (1959) Animal “languages” and
human language. Human Biology, 31(1), 32-39
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40. Here are two book chapters
you can download and read
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Atkinson, M., Kilby, D., and
Roca, I.(2014) Foundations of
General Linguistics. London:
Routledge
Crystal, D. (1997) English as a
global language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University PressNow write the in-text citations
Atkinson, Kilby and Roca (2014)
Crystal (1997)
 Are humans unique?
 Why a global language?

41. Find at least 2 more sources for
your essay
 Remember that recent sources are usually
better
 Don’t cite Wikipedia
 You can use Wikipedia to help you find
sources!
 Two links to more sources:
– https://www.questia.com/library/communication/a
nimal-communication
– or
– http://www.citethisforme.com/topic-
ideas/english/english%20as%20a%20global%20la
nguage-14608401
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42. Simple essay structure
 Introduction
 Then
– 2 or 3 paragraphs stating your view
– 1 or 2 paragraphs stating the opposite view
 OR
– 4 or 5 paragraphs, 1 topic per paragraph
– State both views in each paragraph
 Conclusion
 References 42

43. Choose your essay
 Write it before next Tuesday’s class
 Bring your essay on your laptop or tablet
to the class
 Write about 1000 words (excluding the
References)
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