STEP 2

THE NATURE OF LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE

Students:
HOLMAN DAVID PACHON
ZARYTH ALEXANDRA GALEANO HERNÁNDEZ
LEYDI ESPERANZA VILLAMIZAR ROJAS
RUDDY JUDITH LINEY Y CACERES

Group:
518017_17

Tutor:
VIVIANA ANDREA OSPINA GIRALDO

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL ABIERA Y A DISTANCIA

UNAD

September 2019
1. Based on the first document, do Exercise 1.4 in page 13. You have six phrases and you have
to identify them to whom the phrases might belong, “Attribute each of the…phrases to
Ferdinand de Saussure, Noam Chomsky, or Michael Halliday. What motivates, in each case,
your response according to the text? What does the quote tell you about their perspective on
the study and analysis of language?”

 ‘If we could embrace the sum of word-images stored in the minds of all individuals, we
could identify the social bond that constitutes language. It is a storehouse filled by the
members of a given community through their active use of speaking, a grammatical
system that has a potential existence in each brain, or, specifically, in the brains of a
group of individuals. For language is not complete in any speaker; it exists perfectly only
within a collectivity.’

Ferdinand de Saussure: This phrase must be attributed to Mr. Ferdinand de Saussure

because his perspective on the study and analysis of language has a certain relationship
with these words and also on its starting pint of structuralism for conceiving the language
as a system of elements and rules of combination among them acceptable by the
community of speakers who use it to communicate. (Holman David Pachón)

 ‘It seems clear that we must regard linguistic competence – knowledge of a language – as
an abstract system underlying behavior, a system constituted by rules that interact to
determine the form and intrinsic meaning of a potentially infinite number of sentences.’

Noam Chomsky: he introduced the concept of linguistic competence in his elaboration

of generative grammar, where it has been widely adopted and competence is the only
level of language that is studied.There are some kind of characteristics and elements
which determine a specific human language, some general universal elements, and
conditions on the form and association of any human language, where form the topic
matter for the study of general grammar. (LeydiVillamizar Rojas)

 ‘Every text – that is, everything that is said or written – unfolds in some context of use;
furthermore, it is the uses of language that, over tens of thousands of generations have
shaped the system. Language has evolved to satisfy human needs; and the way it is
organized is functional with respect to these needs.’

Michael Halliday: points out that functional grammar is so-called because its conceptual
framework is a functional one rather than a formal one. It is functional in three distinct
senses: in its interpretation (1) of texts, (2) of the system, and (3) of the elements of
linguistic. To Halliday there are also three ways, where make it a system of choices.
 Interpersonally: establishing and maintain relationships between people. Ideationally:
construing the world weather real, invited, or abstract. Textually: organizing the
interpersonal and the ideational into coherent texts.
It teaches us that language is constantly changing because some rules are added and
deleted, thus language has lasted for generations. For this reason, we sometimes say or
imply ourselves with some words and the result is another. (LeydiVillamizar Rojas)

This quote is a contribution or complement to my perspective on the study and analysis

of language, since it refers to the role played by the speaker and the listener when
developing the language. (Ruddy Judith LineyCáceres)

 ‘Linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-hearer, in a completely

homogeneous speech community, who knows its language perfectly and is unaffected by
such grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitations, distractions, shifts of
attention and interest, errors (random or characteristic) in applying his knowledge of the
language in actual performance.’

Noam Chomsky: linguistics in this sense is concerned with an idealized model of the
grammar a speaker has in his/her head.The natural speaker has its own knowledge about
the grammatical laws; when we are a child, we can learn some kinds of grammar.
linguistics is concerned with the "laws behind" the concrete use of language in a
particular situation. (LeydiVillamizar)

 ‘Language is a system of interdependent terms in which the value of each term results
solely from the simultaneous presence of the others … [for example]. To determine what
a five-franc piece is worth one most know: (1) that it can be exchanged for a fixed
quantity of a different thing, e.g. bread; and (2) that it can be compared with a similar
value of the same system, e.g. a one-franc piece, or with coins of another system (a
dollar, etc.). In the same way a word can be exchanged for something dissimilar, an idea;
besides, it can be compared with something of the same nature, another word. Its value is
therefore not fixed so long as one simply states that it can be ‘exchanged’ for a given
concept.’

Ferdinand de Saussure: For Saussure, there are no objects (words/texts/others) that

carry inherent, autonomous, "positive" meaning: there are only points of view whose
meanings depend on their interrelatedness. To Ferdinand the relationship between a given
signified and signifier in the rough is arbitrary. Thus, for example, we can say something
that could have different meaning; there is a further evidence for language not being a
system, which names already, exists. (LeydiVillamizar)
  ‘Spoken and written language, then, tend to display different KINDS of complexity; each
of them is more complex in its own way. Written language tends to be lexically dense but
grammatically simple; spoken language tends to be grammatically intricate but lexically
sparse’ … ‘the value of having some explicit knowledge of the grammar of written
language is that you can use this knowledge, not only to analyze the texts, but as a critical
resource for asking questions about them.’

 Michael Halliday: Alternative grammar characteristic are much more assumed processes
of grammatical complexity in advance academic writing. The written language and
spoken language has its own lexical and grammatically meaning depends how we can
understand the words or sentences that we are learning or getting. (LeydiVillamizar)

2. ‘Based on the second text ‘Linguistics’ in “Bauer, Laurie; The Linguistic Student's
Handbook” Answer the following question: why is Linguistics definitely considered a
science? In your answer, involve the other language areas such as semiotics, philology and
literature.

The linguistic is a science because it studies the human essence, as Noam Chomsky said. The
individual abilities of our mind. We live in a world of language where human keeps
communicating in different speaker arrangements. The fact that the use of language as a
communication structure is so persistent in how we act, and how we think. Calls for an
examination of what language is, how it has evolved over time and how is used as a means of
communication. Language ranges like semiotics where explain theory of sign systems,
where weus vocabulary of signs related to specific meaning for decades, it has been assumed
that every sign system in nature, one-way to let us understand when the people has some
problems to say what they want. The philology study of language in oral and written
historical sources is more commonly, defined as the study of literary texts as well as oral and
written records. Either the study of languages and literatures, as well as the corresponding
culture of its speakers, it shows us how the old civilizations could manage the language, its
own way to communicate. The literature was seen, as a form of knowledge and process of
creativity and the entire body where the people can manifest some feels and thoughts written
on histories. (LeydiVillamizar)

There are several good reasons to call linguistic science. Like the biological sciences,
linguistics deals with observing and classifying natural phenomena such as speech sounds,
words, languages, and ways of using language. Because it manifests itself in human
behavior, it can be studied in the same way that any human behavior is studied in psychology
or medical sciences. Like many scientists, linguists construct hypotheses about language
structures and then test them through experimentation. For the linguist, to say that linguistics
 is a science is a matter of seeking explanations for the phenomenon of language and
constructing theories that help explain why they occur.
Although linguistics and literature can treat the production of language as its basic material,
there is often little overlap between the two fields although linguists deal with issues of
formality and informality in the use of language, and what language is appropriate in what
circumstances, there is an area of literary stylistics that seems to be beyond what most
linguists consider to be the appropriate domain of linguistics. The difference between
linguistics and philology is a matter of history or method. Philology was usually based on the
thorough reading of ancient texts. Linguists use these texts as evidence, but are more
interested in giving a systematic explanation of the language system.

Regarding literature, its relationship with linguistics, emanates from the shared objective of
the study of what language is, since linguistics is the science of language, literature is a
suggestive manifestation of language, the linguistic-literal relationship can be clarified. more
when highlighting the components that participate in the communicative action such as:
announcer, auditor, referential world. (Zaryth Alexandra Galeano Hernández)

3. The concept of ‘double articulation’ is a classic one at identifying language, please, explain
it, and give examples.

Double articulation: or duality of patterning is a concept used in linguistics and semiotics. It

refers to the two-level structure inherent to a sign system, insofar as it is composed by two
kinds of elements: 1) significant or meaningful, and 2) distinctive or meaningless.

 Morphemes: It is the first articulation unit endowed with signifier and meaning, whose
linguistic sign is smaller.
Example:
antedate
prehistoric
unhealthy
disregard
Phonemes: It is considered the second smallest
linguistic unit that has significant, but it has no
meaning, it is not a linguistic sign in Spanish there
are 22 phonemes
Examples: Kid K,I,D

Home H,O,M,E
 Table T,A,B,L,E

(LeydiVillamizar)
Double articulation refers to the twofold structure of the stream of speech, which can be
primarily divided into meaningful signs (like words or morphemes), and then secondarily
into distinctive elements (like letters or phonemes). For example, the meaningful English
word "cat" is composed of the sounds (k), (æ), and (t), which are meaningless as separate
individual sounds (and which can also be combined to form the separate words "tack" and
"act", with distinct meanings). These sounds, called phonemes, represent the secondary and
lowest level of articulation in the hierarchy of the organization of speech. Higher, primary,
levels of organization (including morphology, syntax, and semantics) govern the
combination of these individually meaningless phonemes into meaningful elements. (Holman
David Pachon)

4. Human language is different from other semiotic systems; explain at least three
characteristics that according to Linguistics are unique to human language (give references).

The people must have a mastery of all five semiotic systems and know how they all work
organized, in a multimodal text to make sense of the information connected in the text.

1. Visual: a visual semiotic is understand and interpreting information viewed from still and
moving images.
Examples:

1. Background creating the setting or scenes

2. Color: Mood and Emotion, Cultural significance
3. Perspective: Depth and dimension

2. Auditory: Is where information can be interpreted trough sounds.

Examples:
1. Voice Electronic, own voice, natural speech
2. Music: Selected or composed music
3. Rhythm: , any regular recurring motion, symmetry.

3. Gestural: Interpret information through gestures made by others.

Examples:
1. Facial Expressions
2. Speed
3. Emotions.

(LeydiVillamizar)

Structure (Language + Speech)

Language as a communicative structure is composed of two different resources: language
(or language), which is a general and constant model of communication common to all
members of a linguistic collective, and speech, which is the momentary materialization of
the language through an individual action of phonation or writing.

Verbal and nonverbal

The type of language can be both verbal and nonverbal, being the verbal language
constituted by words that are formed from phonemes, and that includes both speech and
writing, while non-verbal language is composed of images, drawings, symbols, gestures,
voice tones, among others. It consists of signs The signs that make up a language can be
divided into two parts: the meaning, which is the mental image of the concept being
represented, and the signifier, which is the material form of the sign, be it a word or an
image.

Innate and developed

The language is at the same time innate and learned, since people are born with a
hereditary linguistic ability, which consists of a universal grammar common to all human
beings, which will be transformed into a particular grammar (with its own structure) to as
the person develops in a social and family context.
(Ruddy Judith LineyCáceres)
 References:

 McCabe, A. (2011). An Introduction to Linguistics and Language Studies. London:

Equinox Publishing Ltd. Retrieved from
http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dir
ect=true&db=nlebk&AN=547849&lang=es&site=eds-live&scope=site

 Bauer, L. (2007). The Linguistic Student’s Handbook. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University

Press. Retrieved from
http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dir
ect=true&db=nlebk&AN=194155&lang=es&site=eds-live&scope=site

 https://educatingwithmultiliteracies.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/may-the-force-be-with-
you-making-sense-of-semiotic-systems/#more-112

 https://edu.glogster.com/glog/unpacking-the-5-semiotic-systems/1k3gksibj6n

 https://prezi.com/lbuaykh9uv1b/semiotic-systems/

 https://www.britannica.com/topic/phoneme

 https://www.ntid.rit.edu/sea/processes/wordknowledge/grammatical/whatare

 http://www.melta.org.my/index.php/11-melta-articles/158-literature-in-the-language-
classroom

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_articulation