LIN102H5 Introduction to General Linguistics: Words, Sentences, and their Meaning

University of Toronto Mississauga - Fall 2021

Homework 1: Written
Due: Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 9:00 am EST

Family Name: Ali Hedayat

Given Name: Ali Hedayat
Student number: 1008059814

1. English dogs (3 points)

Explain your three arguments here:
a. According to O’Grady & Archibald's Contemporary Linguistic Analysis: An Introduction. 9th
edition, speakers of a language have access to grammar. Grammar refers to a mental system
that allows a speaker of a language to both form and interpret known and unknown utterances.
So, to acquire a language one must acquire the full grammatical system. Dogs mainly acquire q
proportion of phonetics and phonology, anything related to speech sounds. However, grammar
is much more than just speech sounds. Morphology, syntax, and semantics, all of which also
make up the grammatical system. The average English-speaking undergraduate knows about
20k-30k words. A well-trained dog that has gifted intellect may know up to 1000 words. But just
knowing these words is not enough, someone who has acquired a language will know the rules
and will know how to interpret words. For instance, for a dog, ‘sit’ and ‘sid’ will sound identical.
This demonstrates that a dog does not contain grammar to be able to distinguish these two
words. Grammar also contains knowing the rules and interpreting sentences. Dogs under no
circumstance can understand sentences to be able to demonstrate acquiring a language. When
a dog responds (takes the proper action) to the owner saying ‘let's go for a walk’, it does not
mean that the dog can interpret that sentence using grammar. Rather, the dog understands the
speech sound of the word ‘walk’ and knows the command/action for this word. Therefore, dogs
do not acquire a language as they do not contain grammar to be able to participate in syntax,
morphology, and semantics.
b. Speakers of a language are able to not only produce but understand an unlimited number of
utterances, whether they be known or unknown/new. Clearly, a dog can not produce any sort
of utterances as it does not contain the vocal apparatus to produce a language’s speech sounds.
However, can a dog understand an unlimited number of utterances? Simply no. The number of
words a dog can understand is very limited, these words are mostly commands. As mentioned
before, a highly intellectual dog can learn up to 1000 words. The average dog can maybe learn
up to 100-500 words. For instance, words such as ‘sit’, ‘stay’, ‘roll over’, and so on, are very
common in what a dog can understand. Technically the dog does not even understand the word
to its full capacity, it only understands the sound of the word and knows its command due to
training. Words like ‘calculator’, ‘understand’, ‘deforestation’, and so on. Words that are not just
commands, these words dogs do not understand. The proof is through the many years we have
seen dogs being trained, we have not seen any that have responded to words that are not just
commands. The point being, a dog is not capable of understanding the vast majority of words
that a language contains. This is a key aspect of acquiring a language thus proving why a dog
does not acquire a language.

c. Lastly, according to Dr. Stephen Krashen, language acquisition means “picking up a language,
subconsciously having a feel for it”. The keyword I want to focus on is ‘subconsciously’. Dogs do
not subconsciously learn a language like for instances toddlers do. When toddlers hear their
parents talk they pick up these words and eventually try to speak them. As they get older their
brain subconsciously learns what these words mean and realizes how to use them. Dogs on the
other hand do not subconsciously learn a language. They must be trained and disciplined to
understand what a word means. For instance, if a trainer constantly says ‘sit’, the dog is not
going to subconsciously know what that means. But, corresponding the word ‘sit’ to a treat for
instance. Then that dog will know that every time the word ‘sit’ has been spoken that it will be
rewarded with a treat. To acquire a language one must subconsciously understand not only
words, but sentences, language creativity, and grammar. Dogs can not subconsciously do any of
these things, dogs must be shown how a word corresponds with an object or a command (such
as the word ‘walk’ corresponding with the action, the dog does not actually understand the
word. It just knows that based on the sound it is hearing that it gets to go outside). This thus
finalizes the point of why dogs do not acquire a language as they can not subconsciously acquire
the aspects of a language and the language as a whole but rather it must be trained to do so
instead.

2. New verbs from nouns (4 points)

USED AS A NOUN USED AS A VERB

a. He drove in a Mercedes to Toronto. He Mercedesed to Toronto.
b. Are you watching TikTok? Are you TikToking?