1. What Is Language?
Ching-Fen Hsu
2013/9/13
Lecture 1

2. Linguistic Knowledge
• Language: human essence; distinctive qualities
of mind; unique to man; separate human from
animals; human life and power
• Lg ability means to produce strings of sounds
(signify meanings) & understand or interpret
others’ sounds
• 5yrs proficient at speaking & understanding;
can produce relative clauses without knowing
that it is
• Language ability is innate as walking ability
without knowing principles of balance

3. Knowledge of Sound
System
• Knowing possible or impossible sounds in the
system
• Different lgs have their sound systems, e.g., /th/
in English does not exist in French (/z/ instead)
• Second lg learners substitute sounds from other
lgs
• Phonotactics: principles of rule combinations in
a lg, e.g., /nk/ is impossible word initial in
English
• Children develop sound patterns of lg rapidly

4. Knowledge of Words
• Knowing which sequences of sounds relate to
specific meanings & which do not
• Arbitrary relation of form & meaning: words
signify concepts, e.g., ‘house’ for
• Form (sounds) vs. meaning (concept) are by
convention; true in spoken & sign lgs
• Sound symbolism: pronunciation of words =
meaning, e.g., onomatopoeic (buzz, murmur):
imitation of sounds associated with objects or
actions (cock-a-doodle-doo for English crow;
how about Chinese?)

5. Creativity of Linguistic
Knowledge
• Number of sentences in a lg is infinite
• Knowing a lg means being able to create,
produce, & understand new sentences
• Creativity: universal property of human lg
• Knowledge of S & non-S
• Understand infinite number of well-formed S
• Distinguish grammatical & ungrammatical S
• S = organization of words + rules of S formation
• Rules (=grammar) are finite & S are infinite

6. Linguistic Knowledge & Performance
• Difference bet producing & understanding S
(competence) & applying knowledge
(performance)
• Grammar: knowledge that speakers have about
units & lg rules
• Lg rules: combining sounds into words
(phonology), word formation (morphology),
coming phrases into S (syntax), assigning
meanings (semantics)
• Competence: grammar + lexicon (mental
dictionary)
• Understand nature of lg = nature of grammar

7. Descriptive Grammar
• Linguist’s description of grammar or lg itself
• A model of speakers’ linguistic capacity
• Describe basic linguistic knowledge, but not
how you should speak
• Grammatical S: rules of mental grammar
• Ungrammatical S: deviation from rules
• No lg or lg variety (dialect) is superior or
inferior to any others in linguistic sense
• Every lg is equally complex, logical, capable of
producing infinite S to express thoughts

8. Prescriptive Grammars
• Some claim certain correct forms should use in
speaking & writing
• 1762 Bishop Robert Lowth on A Short Introduction
to English Grammar with Critical Notes
e.g., I don’t have none == I don’t have any
You was wrong about that == You were...
• double negatives are inferior
• Prescriptive grammar: describe rules they should
follow
• All lg & dialects are rule-governed
• Standard usage is used for social prestige

9. Universal Grammar
• Universal rules give us a window into human
faculty of lg
• General rules: features common to all lgs vs.
special grammar, e.g., universal categories of
nouns & verbs
• UG: blueprint for all lgs to follow for lg learning;
part of children’s innate capacity; laws of human
lg
• Specifies different components of grammar &
relations, how different rules construct, how rules
interact
• Linguistic theory discovers nature of UG

10. Development of Grammar
• How lg is acquired
• None of social factors influences lg development;
children acquire any lg exposed to with ease
• Babbling => words => simple S => complex S
• Children who cannot count 5 master lg
• Children only learn particular lg, not all rules
• Sign lg provide evidence to support UG
• Sign = visual-gestural system, own grammatical
rules, mental lexicon (equivalent to spoken lg)
• Slips of the hand = slips of the tongue
• Deaf children babble with hands; independent of
modality, lg acquisition relies on cognitive capacity

11. What Is Not (Human
Language)?
• Human beings are designed for human lg
• Animal has communication system, e.g.,
creative spider? Fiddler crabs to wave claws
• Human lg is discrete (source of creativity) and
composed of units based on grammar rules
• Individual parts can be arranged & rearranged
to form infinite number of expressions
• Bird calls (simple & short notes) & birdsongs
(complex & long notes) do not have internal
structure, only relate immediate E & needs

12. Human Language
Characteristics
• Displacement: capacity to talk messages
related or unrelated to here & now
• Displacement & discreteness: two fundamental
properties to distinguish human lg from
communication systems of animals
• Birdsongs are acquired in several stages as
children acquire lg; from simple to complex
• Critical periods for birdsongs & human lg
• Lg acquisition involves learned & innate
structure; variation can develop (e.g., dialects)

13. Bee Dances
• Honeybees have particular signaling system
• Dance for food source: location & quality
• Italian honeybees dance three patterns: round
(location near hive <20 feet); sickle (20-60 feet
from hive), tail-wagging (>60 feet)
• Repetition number per minute of basic pattern:
precise distance
• Slower repetition rate = longer distance
• Dance intensity = richness of food source
• Livelier & more repetition = more food
• Honeybee topic is the same: food (ㄨdisplacement
+ creativity)

14. Can Animals Learn Human
Language?
• Parrots & mynahs can be taught to reproduce
• Have no ability to produce unlimited utterances
• Imitation has no communicative function
• Knowing how to produce sound sequence ≠ knowing a
lg
• German border collie Rico understand 200-word
vocabularies & picked a novel toy from familiar toys 70%
correctly
• US border collie Chaser understand 1022 toys (in 3yrs)!
• Dogs associate sound sequence with objects or actions
rather than understand them
• Animals give signals associated with immediate E &
emotional state
• How about chimpanzees? Spoken? Sign?

15. Language and Thought
• Lg structure influences how speakers perceive the
world
• Linguistic determinism: Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
(strong version)
• Spoken lg determines how we perceive & think
about the world; lg acts like a filter on reality
• Linguistic relativism: weak version SWH
• Different lgs encode diff categories & speakers
think the world in diff ways; e.g., Novaho: blue +
green = one word; Russian: light blue vs. dark blue
= diff words; native English Zuni: yellow + orange
= same word

16. Rethinking Sapir-Whorf
Hypothesis
• Strong version is false; peoples’ thoughts &
perceptions are not determined by words &
structures of lgs, e.g., tenses in Chinese & card-
sorting exp on colors (color perception is
determined by human eye but not lg structure)
• Humans are not prisoners of linguistic systems
• Hopi languages have other expressions for time,
e.g., Chinese, adverbial phrases; Hopi people use
diff kinds of calendars & sundials
• Munduruku in Brazilian Amazon do not have
triangle, square, rectangle, but can understand
them

17. Language Relativism
• Translation bet lgs is possible; second lg learning
is possible; one word = several words
• Grand Valley Dani in New Guinea have only black
& white but can recognize red in exp
• Color perception is determined by structure of
human eye, not by structure of lg
• World experience creates words (Eskimo Inuit’s
snow) but not lg conditions Inuits’ experience of
world
• Lg does influence thought/cognition: Russians are
better at discriminating light blue & dark blue;
abortion-right to choose vs. right to life

18. Euphemism
• Euphemistic terms are created to replace
negative words
• Crippled => handicapped => disabled =>
challenged
• Language does not determine how we think
about and perceive the world
• Words & grammar of a lg may affect aspects of
cognition, such as categorization & memory

19. Question?