Introduction to Linguistics UdS

Introduction: language has a number of properties (which help us to define what language is) and
functions (what we use it for). We can explore language using a descriptive approach to describe
sounds (phonetics) and sound patterns (phonology); how words are constructed (morphology);
what they mean (semantics); how words are combined to form messages (syntax); and what
language means in use (pragmatics).

Descriptive and Prescriptive Approaches

Linguists investigate the underlying components of language, mental grammars and mental
lexicons by observing patterns in language performance. By exploring these descriptive features,
linguists can begin to describe the system of a language.

Some descriptive observations about English:

Many nouns take an –s ending to form the plural;

The vowel in “suit” is produced with rounded lips;

“Couch” and “sofa” mean roughly the same thing;

Adjectives come before nouns, e.g., “green sofa” not “sofa green”.

Prescriptive rules, on the other hand, make statements on “correct/good” and “incorrect/bad”
language use. One famous example is “do not end sentences with prepositions” which led to its
equally famous response: “That is the sort of thing up with which I will not put”, which was created
to show the absurdity and artificiality of the rule. Another example of a prescriptive rule is the
avoidance of “they” as a pronoun in the singular form, leading to hilarious statements such as:
“We will hire the best person regardless of his sex” (our emphasis). Fun fact: “Prior to the 19th
century, singular ‘they’ was widely used in written […] English” (Bodine, 1975: 131, Language
in Society). Singular they was used by writers such as Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Sir Walter
Scott, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare and it’s even in the King James Bible!

Prescriptive rules are not based on usage, but on the rules of Latin (do not split infinitives); “logic”
(do not use double negatives); and are sometimes based on personal preference (avoidance final
prepositions courtesy of John Dryden in 1672 and later Robert Lowth in 1762).

 All of the sentences below violate a prescriptive rule in English. Can you spot the violation?

a. I can’t get no satisfaction.

b. Who ya gonna call? (Ghostbusters!) [please note, it’s not about the missing copula or the
use of informal ya or the gonna]
c. Anyone who thinks Introduction to English Linguistics is their favorite class, raise your
hand.
d. …to boldly go where no man has gone before.
e. She hosted the TV show with her mother.
f. That sweater is very you!

 What are some prescriptive rules in German? Do you follow them? Why/why not?

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Introduction to Linguistics UdS

If linguistics floats your boat, check out the following resources:

British National Corpus (BNC): http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/
Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA): http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/
International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA): sound files from every accent of English you can
think of: http://dialectsarchive.com/
IPA charts with sound files: http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/
Language Log: blog about linguistics with pieces from the who’s who of linguistics:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/
Linguist List: on-line resource for academic linguistics with a mailing list: http://linguistlist.org/
Linguist Llama: linguistics memes run wild: http://lingllama.tumblr.com/
TED-ed talks about linguistics: http://ed.ted.com/lessons?category=linguistics
World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS): a large database of structural (phonological, grammatical,
lexical) properties of languages gathered from descriptive materials (such as reference grammars) by a team
of 55 authors: http://wals.info/

Seriously folks, hours and hours of fun and fascination are yours to enjoy!!