Resumen carpeta Linguistics 2015

14/04

What Linguistics is not:

-Comparative philology

-Poliglosia

-Traditional grammar

-Literary criticism: An area of linguistic knowledge born once books and authors became popular
(XVII-XVIII). Massive readers. Oriented towards an evaluation of an artistic work, whether sth has a
value (Criteria: well-written, original, revolutionary). They had expertise in language but it cannot
be compared to linguistics because a linguist should not evaluate (they were prescriptive).

What is language?

It is not a tool (sth external), it’s not like the wheel, it wasnt invented!.It’s inherent, in our
mind/brain (Ver Chomsky)

(Entre todos en clase tiramos las siguientes frases que nos parecía describían language)

-System

-Communication

-Set of elements that share features (arrangement), certain rules.

-Articulated sounds.

1) Francis Dineen (1965) Se pronuncia Daini:n

-Sound: When we are born we start to try to speak, and not write. The basis of language is orality.

-Linear: We cannot produce phonemes stereophonically. It’s a human limitation that has to do
with the organs of speech.

-Systematic: Set of elements following rules. Allows people to learn it. Order vs chaos.

-Meaningful:

-Arbitrary:

-Conventional:

-Unique:
-Redundant: Repetition of the same word, structure, etc. From the point of view of stylistics this is
a problem. But redundancy at a linguistic level prevents miscomunication. Spanish is a more
redundant language, providing extra info through inflexions (Coming from Latin).

The good gilrs vs Las nenas buenas

Numbers and math symbols: not redundant. Cannot be recovered from the context. Same as
digital vs analogical: if we dont have the last number in our digital watch we cannot recover it.

2) Charles Hockett in chapter 62 explains Man’s place in nature., and the key properties of
language

There are certain features that make language systematic. He studies different systems of
communication in certain animals:

- Monkeys posses interchangeability.

-Bee language: Characteristic of displacement (To refer to things not present at the moment of
speech)

-When a dog barks because he’s hungry sounds similar to when he is angry.

Animal communication is systematic but limited. But human gathers all these characteristics:

-Arbitrariness:

-Productivity: creating

-Interchangeability: They can interchange their roles. Speaker<-->Listener

-Displacement: Allows people to speak about events apart from the present, or not present at the
momento of speech.

-Specialization: Language has an effect on people even though there’s no physical content.
Language affects people. (If I want to move sth I push it. We can produce laughter, fear, etc.)

-Duality: Double articulation of language. To be economical. Limited number of units produce an

infinite number of combinations.

Phonemic level: Morphemes as the articulation of sounds with meaning

Morphemic level: Morphemes articulate to form words.

Those are levels of language analysis (Martinet explica todo esto de manera simple).

-Cultural transmission: Animals dont have a culture. Cannot créate institutions or a tradition.
-Prevatiarion: (En 1981 la agregó.) Not telling the truth. The ability of doing so. Being able to speak
about contrary-to-facts situations. También la capacidad de proyectar (Hablar de algo que quiero
ser pero no soy todavía…es contrary to fact). Also figures of speech belong to this characteristic.

21/04

Nuestra definición de language:

Language is a set of conventional, vocalic sounds (and the written symbols that stand for them)
learned and voluntarily produced by the members of a community for the sake of
communication. The elements in a language are organised in a system that has sub-systems
which closely interact with one another and with the users experience.

23/04

What is language. History of Linguistics. By Jean Atchinson.

Language as an object of study has been tied to sth else, throughout history. There was a difficulty
to establish it as a discipline.

IV BC  Language and philosophy. Language as a vehicle to express ideas. 1st grammar: Greek
origin. Some of them refuse to write so their ideas were lost, but the main ideas were:

-They believed that words had an essence, and that were related to their referent.

-Debate: Names, were arbitrary or accidental? (¿)

Middle Ages Language and the Church. Latin and language used as a vehicle of power.( Not
everybody could read and write.)

XVIII-XIX Language and History. All languages vendrían de un solo language (Sankrist). Se
descubre la Roseta Stone, en donde hay un texto excrito en sanscrito, debajo el mismo texto en
griego, y debajo jeroglíficos, pudiendo estos últimos ser descifrados. Primer trabajo de traducción
registrado.

XXLanguage and anthropology. Some anthropologists were interested in the languages of the
Amerindians.

XIX-XXFerdinand De Saussure. Swiss scholar/intelectual. What was happening back then?

Comparative environment in Geneva. They compared languages and their changes throughout
history. Saussure realized that language study wasnt only the study of evolution and change. The
sound system, which is abstract and concrete at the same time, inspired him on langue and parole.
28/04

Saussure. Why a revolutionary?

Comparative traditionDiachronic. They studied the origin-development-evolution of language. It

was incomplete for him. They lacked theoretical categories.

He had learned the concept of social fact (From Émile Durkheim), in Sociology. Before Durkheim,
sociologists considered society as a gathering of individuals. Durkheim proved that institutions,
norms, memory, shaped society. And also every society seemed to work in the same way, as a
whole. (“El todo es más que la suma de las partes”, solía decir).

According to Saussure, if Society can be considered as a social fact, so does language. It has norms,
it’s an institution.

Claude Levi-Strauss, anthropologist, was the father of structuralism in Anthropology.

He discovered that there were systematic ways of organization that seemed universal.

-Kin-relationships (Family): Endogamic or not.

-Tener algo trascendental: Religiones.

Saussure le agrega Language

Saussure was specialized in phonology. Phonemes are defined in relation to others, what they are
not. This inspired him to talk about a system of signs, each sign defined in relation to the other
signs of the system, by relation and opposition to those elements.

He was the father of Linguistic Structuralism

-System: relational

-Signs (Sth that stands for sth else).

According to Saussure, our primary sign system is language, and we créate other sign systems
imitating language. E.g: Traffic lights.

We organize everything in terms of sing systems.

Resumen gráfico de Saussure

SEMIOLOGY (The study of signs in social life)

System of sings. LINGUISTICS

Object of study!

LANGUAGE

LANGUE PAROLE

-Essential -Accidental

-Abstract -Concrete

-Social -Individual

-Systematic -Asystematic

Unit of analysis: LINGUISTIC SIGN Principles

It’s the relationship bet. Arbitrary

Linear

SIGNIFIED SIGNIFIER

(Concept) (Acoustic image)

The linguistic sign is made up of internal relationships. If one disappears it doesn exist anymore.
It’s the result of a relationship between a signified and a signifier.
Also by external relationships. (Una vez conformado lo identifico en función de otros).

Conceptos sueltos que sirven:

-Synchrony and Diachrony: Two artificial tools to handle time in Linguistics. (La diacronía estudia la
lengua a lo largo del tiempo, con sus cambios y evolución, mientras que la sincronía recorta en el
tiempo y espacio una determinada lengua y la toma como su objeto de estudio. Eso es lo que
Saussure hace.)

-Paradigmatic relations: Take place in absentia. A Paradigm is a set of elements brought together
following certain criteria. You choose one sign among others related to that sign. Eg: You
understand what teacher is because you relate it to education, school, student.

-Syntagmatic relations: In praesentia. A sign follows and/or preceed other sign, a phoneme follows
and/or preceed other phoneme, etc.

“Una taza de té” Tiene un cierto ordenamiento de los signos que genera sdo. Relación de
combinación, o sintagmática. A su vez, al elegir té, en lugar de elegir café, es una relación de
sustitución o paradigmática.

07/05

Bloomfield.

Background. US history.

1620: Mayflower.

Pilgrim fathers. They were persecuted because of religious reasons.

1776: Declaration of The Independence

Amerindian communities in the West were expelled or secluded (In reservations).

Anthropologists were interested in their exotic language and culture. They stayed and lived in the
communities, by the end of XIX and beg of XX. They were not at war anymore.

They sistematized formal aspects of those languages: Trying to find out how Phonetics and Syntax
were organised. This procedure helped them analaize language itself. (They were structuralists)

1933: Bloomflied wrote “Language”. It was the 1st manual of Linguistics. He had a behavioristic
approach. ‘What is true is what I can measure’. The observable was the only thing that mattered.

1) Which myths from the ones discussed in class does Bloomfield mention?

Traditional grammar: Prescriptive, correctness. The grammar and linguistic instruction confines
itself to landing on the traditional notions. Ordinary people discuss ling matters appealing to
authority (learned people who tell them what is aceptable, correct, and what is not) or to a
philosophical reasoning.

Other myths: Literary criticism and comparative philology.

2) How does Bloomfield define language?

He defines language as any other behaviourist. Definition in terms of stimulus and response. From
a mechanic perspective. Learning through imitation, you imitate the stimulus and hence produce a
response.

3) Which theories of language learning does he mention? Which one does he adhere to?
(Mentalistic theory, materialistic)

Mentalistic theory: They believe that human conduct is guided by a spirit or will or mind, a
different entity from material things. As a consequence, their actions cannot be predicted, as they
dont follow material ‘laws’ such as cause-and-effect.

Materialistic theory: The variability of human conduct follows material ‘rules’ such as those
observed in physics or chemistry, mainly cause-and-effect sequences. Eg: Actions can be
predicted: given a certain stimulus, we can predict the response; whether a person will speak and
what he will say exactly.

AGREGAR A CUAL ADHIEREEE

4) Does Bloomfield neglect meaning? How does he approach it?

He doesnt neglect meaning. Although he asserts that since I cant describe what I cannot see or
register, I will resort to other disciplines to help me describe a meaning. Other discplines such
as psychology, will help me describe meaning, NOT LINGUISTICS.

12/05

CHOMSKY (Against behaviourism. New ways of approaching language and how to learn it)

Chomsky’s theories:

-Language acquisition: Not by imitation. Parents have to teach us how to swallow, not natural. His
daughters couldnt tie their shoes but could produce very difficult linguistic expressions. They could
organize all this amount of chaotic info, as the brain disregards what it doesnt need. (Organ:
brain/mind, which has an active role, discriminating, organizing, producing).

-Theory of grammar: Grammar is a set of rules that may generate simple and grammatical
sentences. GENERATIVE GRAMMAR. (Saussurian grammar was RELATIONAL).
Universal Grammar: Like a menú with all the posible rules, sounds all languages have. It provides
all the options. It can be applied to every language.

LAD: Language Acquisition Device. Language organ. It separates the options for the language we
use. Also by getting information from the environment.

Languages are like human faces: identifiable features, the differences are details.

14/05

CHOMSKY (Continuacion)

The baby comes with a natural endowment brain/mind.

How does it develop? By feedingLanguage input: Surrounding language, caretaker, parents,

media.

LAD: Selects the rules for the language the child is supposed to acquire. It decays after
adolescence. It follows a certain order: Eg: Verb to be is the first verb learned in all languages,
except for Hebrew. (Solo lo usan para hablar de Dios, “el Es”, por lo que la cosmovisión de la
lengua influye en la estructura de la lengua).

Our brain/mind has cognitive strategies.

Bilingual situation: LAD will determine which rules belong to which language.

Competence: The abstract info we have about a particular language.

Performance: The actual use of that info we have.

Both competence and performance are individual. Thats why we cannot relate it to the Saussurian
terms langue and parole, as langue is social. (Laclau used to relate those terms, hence the
confusión).

Theory of grammar.

‘Colourless Green ideas sleep furiously’

It’s a semantic clash. Does not seem to break any of the syntactic rules, but it means nothing!

Although it has English words it is not English. The problem lies at a different level.

1957: “Syntactic Structures”Phrase Structure Grammar. (Grammar of rules)

-Surface structure (Sentence, phonetic part, formal manifestatios of language)

Deep structure Allows us to produce individual sentences.

El diagrama arbóreo viene de la deep structure.

DSR: Deep structure rules. SNP+VP (Kernel sentence, a simple and gramatical sentence.) Ni
movimiento ni inserción.

Lexicon: Mental dictionary (not just the semantic info. But also the gramatical info that allows that
word to combine with other: eg: Transitive vb: verb+obj)

Ambigüedad sintáctica: She’s a criminal lawyer

The same surface structure but two diff deep st: penalista o criminal?

There’s not a direct relationship bet form and meaning.

1965: “Aspects of a theory of Syntax”

Generative transformational grammar. It is a grammar of principles. Not as rigid as the first one.

Transformations are applied to simple sentences to produce complex ones.

T rules (Transformation rules)

Optional: Ph vb: NP may be inserted in the middle or after.

Obligatory: The same e.g but with a pronoun instead of a NP you cant!

19/05

Chomsky’s Government and Binding

It talks about syntactic devices and modules, present in human languages.

Modules:

-Pro-drop parameter: Syntactic device that allows the language to omit the gram subject (in the
surface structure.) LAS ORDENES VIENEN DE LA DEEP STRUCTURE

-Government: there are certain linguistic forms that dominate others.

Eg: 1) Transitive vbs: Demand objective case of the pronoun

2) Preposition governs over pronoun (¿)

- Binding: Situation in which there are linguistic elements semantically related, even though they
are not near. Eg: Pronoun reference. It can be in another sentece.

-Bounding: Syntactic devices in which units continue being a unit though they are separated:

E.g: ph verbs with stranded preposition.

-ECP (Empty Category Principle): Semantic present, syntactic absent:

Mary wanted to buy flowers

(mary is the same doer). There’s always a trace. (No me parece muy claro este ej, buscaría otro)

Diagram in chapter 13 figure 78:

Phrase Structure (PS) rules: They generate kernel sentences. Simple and gramatical sentences

X-bar: Syntactic hierarchy (Main sentence vs subordinate).

Deep structure: PS rules and lexicon

θ-Theory: (Theta Theory): Teoria de los papeles argumentales. Organiza elementos

according to the info present in vbs.

T-rule: Transformational rule (Tambien en la deep) Bounding principle.

Surface structure: La oración ya se ve y/o se escucha.

Case Theory: Filmore

Phonetic rules:

Logical form rules (they used to be syntactical rules)

θ-Theory and Case TheorySEMANTIC ASPECT

28/05

Fillmore “The case for case” 1976, criticando a Chomsky.

Chomsky was still paying very much attention to S-Structure.

Case grammar: Tries to explain relations between VP and NP

Semantic interpretation!

VP: It’s the structure in the sentence that determines the role of the NP, independently of the
syntactic function and of the place.

Eg: Role of agent: John broke the window (A.V)

The window was broken by John (P.V)

In both cases John is the doer of the action.

VP as a play director who distributes the roles.

THEMATIC ROLES (Vamos a usar esa lista para analizar las sentences)

Si hay una prep phrase solo subrayar la NP. Al verb le ponemos C.A (Case assigner)

1) Instrumental: The earthquake killed 20.000 people

2) Locative: He studied at the university

3) Benefactive: Entity (Non-animate)

4) Agent, 5)patient and 6) experiencer always anímate.

7) Theme

8) Source

9) Goal: Lo que hace, no importa de donde viene

a) She teaches at the university

Agent C.A Locative

b) Paul likes grapefruit

Exper. C.A Theme

c) The rock jammed the machine

instrument C.A Theme

d) Jenny got a prize

Exper./patient theme

e) The bulldozer demolished the Wall

Instrument C.A goal/theme

f) The cat died because of loss of blood

Patient C.A Source

TENER BIEN PRESENTE QUE PIENSAN CHOMSKY Y FILLMORE DE CASE GRAMMAR

Halliday

He is a sociolinguist, a different approach to language: Looks at language from the outside

(Language used to serve different functions in Society. (Linguists look language from the inside)
-Ideational or logical Function (Referencial de Jakobson): To speak about reality, the outside world.
It’s the 1st function, the most basic one. Transitivity system: syntax.

-Interpersonal Function (Conativa de Jakobson): Socializing, get in touch, negotiate. It’s realized in
the modality system. Speaker’s attitude.

-Textual function (Poética en Jakobson): Possibilities language has to créate different messages.
Through grammar, we can change the focus. Stylistic possibilities. Metaphors, sinonyms.

4/06

MORPHOLOGY

-Status Free

Bound

-Funtion Derivational

Inflexional: Closing morphemes (Close the sequence) Solo uno se puede usar en Eng.

They add info about a gramm category: aspect, tense, genitive, etc.

-Position Prefixes

Suffixes

Free morpheme+affix: STEM (Eg: ‘Girls’. Not free anymore)

{Girl-} {-s}

Stem Plural. Inf suffix.

{Girl-} {-ish}

Stem Deriv. suffix

{Language-} {-s}

Stem Plural. Inf. suffix

{Lenghth-} {-en-} {-ed}

Stem Deriv inf suffix

(N into Vb)

------------------------------------------

-ing: Qualities, characteristics vs -ed: Effect that has in sb.

(No dejan de ser verbs pero tienen función adjetiva.) Deverbal adj.

-------------------------------------

In Eng W.O creates function. El ingles no es tan inflectional, es mas syntactical. En Esp:
Morphollogically and inflectionally organized.

---------------------------------------

Past participle is not a tense!

---------------------------------------

Separacion de palabras en ingles

Syllable criterion: No sirve para saber cuales son los morfemas

Ej: Language (dos silabas, pero un solo morfema!)

Morphollogical criterion: {Lov-} {-ed} 1 syll, 2 morphemes.

ALLOMORPHS:

1 morph, different phonemic shapes.

Eg: pl /s/ /z/ /iz/. Phonollogically conditioned. The shape of the morpheme is determined
phonollogically by the last sound of the stem. In other words, the last sound of the stem
conditions the subsequent sound.

Eg: Talks voiceless

Plays voiced

{Watch-} {-s}

Stem 3rd pers sing

Inf suffix. Phon. Cond.

Past participle tmb serian allomorphs no??

{translate-} {-able-} {-ity}

Stem Deriv suffix Deriv suffix.

ALTERNANTS:

House /haus/

Houses /hauziz/
NO DIFFERENCE IN SPELLING, pero si en phono.

Alternable stem, to receive other morphemes.

IT CAN ALSO HAVE DIFF IN SPELLING

Eg: Loaf loaves /leuf/ /leuvz/

11/06

MORPHEME INTERNAL CHANGE:

1) Suppletives: A dramatic change in the phonemic change of morpheme.

Eg: English: Go- went- gone Español: ir-fue

Analysis:

Go went {go} {went}

Good better {good} {degree}

No hay que escribir hyphen ni la stem.

2) Internal vocalic change: Another phonemic shape. There’s only a change in the vowels,
dyphthongs etc.

Eg: Sing sang /sin/ /saen/ {sing} {past}

Read read /ri:d/ /red/

HOMOPHONES:

2 diff morphemes with identical pronunciation or phonemic shape.

Eg English: Son /san/ sun /san/

Esp rioplatense: Casa caza

It creates ambiguity, and jokes y intraducibles

Its imposible to differentiate them in isolation

MORPHOLLOGICAL CONDITIONING:

Situation in which there is an alternative suffix to indicate plurality

Child children

UNIQUE MORPHEMES:
Morphemes of limited occurrence. Only into specific combinations/fixed expressions, not
whenever you want.

Eg: Back and forth.

Pros and cons

Blackberry

Por separado no existen con ese meaning o significan otra cosa. No son free morphemes.

SUPRASEGMENTAL MORPHEMES:

It’s above the segment: intonation-pause-stress.

BUT they are considered morphemes because they do change part of speech/meaning.

Eg: ‘record re’cord (No visual)

Jugo jugó (Visual)

Deceptive: Fish: sing/pl

People pl

News sing

16/06

Analysis:

Interchangeability: {Inter-} { -change-} {-able-} {-ity}

Deriv pref stem Deriv suff deriv suff

Unexpected: {un-} {-expect-} {-ed}

Deriv pref Stem Past perf. Inflex suffix. Phon cond

Hopelessness: {Hope-} {-less-} {-ness}

Stem Deriv suff Deriv suff

Blackened: {Black-} {-en-} {-ed}

Stem Deriv suff Past perf. Infl suffix. Ph cond?

Weaknesses: {weak-} {-ness-} {-s}

Stem Deriv suff Plural. Inflex suffix. Ph cond.

Unsuccessfully: {Un-} {-success-} {-ful-} {-ly}

Deriv pref Stem Deriv suf Deriv suffix

Likelyhoods: {like-} {-ly-} {-hood-} {-s}

Stem Deriv suff Deriv suff Plural. Inflex suff. Ph cond.

Girls: {girl-} {-s}

Stem Plural. Inflex suff Ph cond.

Uncertainties: {Un-} {-certain-} {-ty-} {-s}

Deriv suff stem Deriv suff Plural. Inflex suff. Ph cond.

Loves: {love-} {-s}

Stem 3rd pers sing. Infl suff.

Says: {say-} {-s}

Stem 3rd pers sing. Infl suff.

Reaches: {reach-} {-s}

Stem. 3rd pers sing. Infl suff.

Talks: {talk-} {-s}

Stem. 3rd pers sing. Infl suff.

Seek/sought: {Seek} {Past}

Sheep: {sheep} {sing/pl}

News: {news} {sing}

Fungus/fungi: {fungus} {plural}

People: {people} {plural}

WORD FORMATION PROCESSES:

-Derivation (the most orthodox way of WF). Morphollogical.

-Compounding: Syntactical. Washing-machine. It always respect grammar. Both elements are kept
together by virtue of syntax.

-Abbreviation (Lexical). Shortened word that becomes a new word.

a) Clipping: Demo, fridge, bus

b) Blending: Brunch, smog, sitcom

c) Alphabetizing: USA, FBI, UN (We pronounce each initial)

d) Acronym: Radar, laser, UFO (we pronounce them as a word)

e) Abbreviation proper: (opaque: you cant read it if you dont know what it is)e.g, i.e, etc.

-Reduplication: (total )yo-yo gaga

(partial) zigzag pic nic Willy nilly.

-Morphollogical misanalysis: (folk etimology, false etimology): it’s not true that is a morpheme but
is used as a morpheme

Alcoholic workaholic (holic doesnt mean addiction).

Hamburger venia de Hamburgo. Desp inventaron la cheeseburger eggburger

Watergate, gate como escandalo.

-Backformation: You take away a part of the word. It’s exclusively used (not applied in spanish), to
create vbs out of nouns, because of some logical reason.

1st they had the word, then they needed to describe actions:

Locomotionlocomote

Televisióntelevise

Babysitterbabysit

Por que babysit is not a compound? Because it’s not a plausible structure in Eng. A Noun cannot
modify a verb!

Hang glidind Verb+verb not a compound!(Que era igual? Backformation as well??)

-Coinage: Deproperization: savora, LynchLinchamiento. Pasteurpasteurizacion.

-Borrowing: As a process of word incorporation. Already made in another language. Incorporacion,

no formación.

READ PART OF SPEECH HOCKETT, 2 CHAPTERS.

Seccion asignments, practica de word formation.

PARTS OF SPEECH

Belong to class N C.A (articles, adjectives)

NV C.N (Pronouns, nouns)

AV C.A

PCV

Adj: no tienen info to indicate gender but they have gender info. Todos los adjetivos femeninos del
ingles vienen del francés no son inflection, son derivación.

Inflectional categories:

Generic: Number

Specific: plural

Generic: gender

Specific: masculine

Generic: tense

Specific: 3rd pers sing present or past (future no, only syntactically shown)

PS: Parts of speech (A group of stem that work in the same way, inflex and/or syntactically.

Behind the emotive sloganizing

CP CA CA CNV

GC: Grammatical categories (si se ven. En las class P raramente).

-- -- -- generic: non-finite

Specific: gerund.

{slogan-} {-ise-} {-ing}

 Stem deriv suf inf suff

It should be clear that NATO leaders have not gone to war over events in Kosovo

PS: CN CV CA CP CN CN CV CA CP CN CP CN CP CN

GC: -- -- -- -- -- Gen: number -- -- -- -- gen: numb-- --

Spec: plural spec: pl

Morphology: -- -- -- -- -- Acronym {lead-} {-er-} {-s}

Stem deriv suf plural, inf suff, ph cond.

Have gone: Suppletive. {go} {past part}

{Event-} {-s}

Stem plural. Inf suffix, ph cond.