Levels of analysis

HUL 242

9th Jan 2023

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 1 / 25

We are effortless language users

We produce (and understand) hundreds of utterances every day, all of

which are meaningful
Language in human beings is used to share complex knowledge across
individuals, co-ordinate joint activites

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 2 / 25

We are effortless language users

We produce (and understand) hundreds of utterances every day, all of

which are meaningful
Language in human beings is used to share complex knowledge across
individuals, co-ordinate joint activites

Generativity
use fixed number of strings to generate a very large, potentially infinite
number of sentences
This is generally understood as an adaptation characteristic of humans

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 2 / 25

What about Linguistics?

Modern linguistics as a discipline grew out of philology i.e. the study

of language in historical texts
Ferdinand de Saussure’s posthomously published book in 1918 made
the distinction between diachronic and synchronic studies of language
While diachronic studies look at language’s development over time,
synchronic studies examine language at a particular point in time
Saussure argued that both types of studies are important for the
study of language

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 3 / 25

Language Science

We can define modern linguistics as a systematically organized body

of knowledge on language
What characterizes the study of linguistics today is the goal of
explaining our specialized linguistic ability and knowledge
This knowledge is largely unconscious- we do not think about rules of
grammar when speaking
Moreover, this kind of unconscious ability is not limited to language-
we learn to walk without being aware of the principles of balance and
support

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 4 / 25

Language

Popular myths about the study of language-

I Knowing multiple languages (being a polyglot)
I Search for word origins (etymology)
I Finding the ‘perfect’ language (no such thing!)
I Finding the most ‘scientific’ language (all human languages are
systematic)
These are not the kinds of questions linguists focus on !

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 5 / 25

Language

The study of language often involves finding the ‘weird’ in the normal
What we understand as linguistic knowledge can be tested by
communicating with others
This need not be restricted to writing or even speech! Sign languages
are equivalent to spoken languages, and differ only in their modality
The ability to carry out the simplest act of communication requires
knowledge that can be analyzed at various levels

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 6 / 25

Sound System

When you know a language’s sound system, you are also familiar with
its inventory of sounds
We are aware of discrete sounds that are a part of the stream of
speech for a language
With borrowed words, croissant we use sounds not part of the English
sound system
English speakers learning German will find it challenging to produce
pf in pfannen as the consonant cluster is not in English

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 7 / 25

Words

Knowing the language also means relating certain sequences of

sounds to their meanings in the world
☼→ sun (Eng) or suraj (Hin)
If I want to learn a new language, these relationships will remain
opaque until they are internalized ☼→ le soleil

Arbitrariness
The relationship between speech sounds and meanings is arbitary and
conventionalized

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 8 / 25

Sentences

the little star’s beside a big star

* the little star’s beside for a big star
* little the’s beside a star big

As speakers of a language, we have knowlege about sentences and

non-sentences
We can make judgements about certain strings as being grammatical,
others ungrammatical
Not every string of words in language can be well-formed; it should
conform to the rules that govern sentence formation
These are the rules we acquire when we learn a language

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 9 / 25

Language characteristics

Generativity:

Arbitrariness:
Learnability:

Reflexivity:

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 10 / 25

Language characteristics

Generativity: being able to generate potentially infinite utterances

from finite means
Arbitrariness:
Learnability:

Reflexivity:

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 10 / 25

Language characteristics

Generativity: being able to generate potentially infinite utterances

from finite means
Arbitrariness: sounds and meanings are arbitrarily related
Learnability:

Reflexivity:

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 10 / 25

Language characteristics

Generativity: being able to generate potentially infinite utterances

from finite means
Arbitrariness: sounds and meanings are arbitrarily related
Learnability: Language is teachable and learnable- after the first
language, other languages may also be learned
Reflexivity:

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 10 / 25

Language characteristics

Generativity: being able to generate potentially infinite utterances

from finite means
Arbitrariness: sounds and meanings are arbitrarily related
Learnability: Language is teachable and learnable- after the first
language, other languages may also be learned
Reflexivity: Language can be used to talk about language

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 10 / 25

Sound System

At each level of analysis we can demonstrate how smaller units

combine to form larger structures

The little star’s beside a big star

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 11 / 25

Sound System

At each level of analysis we can demonstrate how smaller units

combine to form larger structures

The little star’s beside a big star

D@ lIãl starz b@sajd @ bIg star

sound structure

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 11 / 25

Sound System

At each level of analysis we can demonstrate how smaller units

combine to form larger structures

The little star’s beside a big star

D@ lIãl starz b@sajd @ bIg star

sound structure

D@ lIã-l sta-rz b@-sajd @ bIg star

syllable structure

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 11 / 25

Words

Words themselves are built up of individual morphemes, which have

specific meanings

stars = star +s
premature = pre + mature

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 12 / 25

Sentence

At the level of a sentence, words belong to particular categories, or

parts of speech
In the example below, we have determiner, adjective, noun, verb,
preposition

(1) The little star ’s beside a big star

Det Adj Noun Verb Prep Det Adj Noun

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 13 / 25

Sentence

At the level of the sentence, each word is grouped together into

chunks or constituents
We can see examples of a noun phrase The little star, a prepositional
phrase beside a big star, which contains a noun phrase within it

(2) (The little star) ((’s) (beside (a big star)))

Det Adj Noun Verb Prep Det Adj Noun

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 14 / 25

Sentence
The entire sentence is composed after combining these smaller chunks
S(NP (The little star) VP((’s) PP(beside NP(a big star))))
S

NP VP

Det Adj N V PP

The little star ’s

P NP

beside
Det AdjP N

a Adj star

big
Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 15 / 25
Levels of linguistic analysis
Phonetics and Phonology: sounds and sound systems (of a language)
Morphology (and Morpho-phonology): word formation and the
knowledge of words
Syntax: sentence and phrase formation processes
Semantics: how sentences are connected with things in the world
Discourse and Pragmatics: how all levels of language are used to
communicate

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 16 / 25

Grammar
Regulates the combination of symbols into messages (Pinker and
Jackendoff, 2005)
“A theory of grammar is a theory about the mental representation of
linguistic knowledge” (Sag et. al, 2003)

A linguist’s understanding of grammar is the knowledge or set of rules

required to combine units of the language
This means rules required to combine sounds into words, rules for
forming words and forming sentences
The project is to uncover the nature of this grammar and its
architecture

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 17 / 25

Ancient Grammars

The study of grammar has always existed in various traditions across

the world: Greek, Latin, Japanese, Sanskrit, Arabic etc.
These grammars seek to describe a language and explain how it has
been used
Many of these grammars have also influenced modern linguistics
today, e.g. Pānini’s Ashtadhyayi
˚

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 18 / 25

Descriptive Grammars

A descriptive grammar adequately describes a native speaker’s

knowledge of the language
A descriptive grammar makes explicit those rules that exist in the
mind of these speakers
It can explain how a native speaker makes judgements about
sentences being grammatical/ungrammatical, which sounds belong to
the inventory for that language etc.

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 19 / 25

Prescriptive Grammar

In contrast, a prescriptive grammar will consider one version of the

grammar to be better or more ‘correct’ than others
Such grammars will prescribe rules rather than merely describe them
Their focus is on maintaining a kind of linguistic purity, as they
believe that linguistic change/innovation has a corrupting influence
e.g you should not start a sentence with a conjunction
That said, written language does follow some rules and conventions
and is explicitly taught - much of this applies to spoken language

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 20 / 25

Language Academies

The Académie Française, established in 1635 is concerned with

preserving the purity of French language
It has tried to prevent English words from being borrowed into French
e.g. computer by giving alternatives ordinateur
Known for being conservative and sometimes at odds with the
opinions of linguists

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 21 / 25

Value judgements about language

Certain varieties of a language may be more privileged than others

e.g. the language of the English upper class was a prestige dialect
Less privileged varieties are sometimes discriminated against in certain
social settings
People may aspire to learn the standard dialect of a language to get a
job, write exams etc. Usually such a dialect has institutional support
e.g. Standard English is the ‘London dialect’, a non-standard dialect
Scouse (Liverpool)
For a linguist all languages including dialects are fully expressive and
complete

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 22 / 25

 Languages and dialects are rule-governed, whether spoken by the
dominant or non-dominant population
Some usages or varieties may be more prestigious, but from a
linguistic perspective, their grammars are neither superior nor inferior
to a less prestigious variety
Prestige/standard grammars do not have “superior grammars” – such
a notion has no linguistic standing

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 23 / 25

Summary

Goals of linguistic study

Levels of analysis in language
Grammar, Descriptive vs. Prescriptive

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 24 / 25

References

Fromkin et al, Ch 1 What is Language?

Ray Jackendoff: Foundations of Language, Ch 1 (Example ‘The little
star’s beside the big star’ taken from pg6)

Ashwini Vaidya (HUL 242) 9th Jan 2023 25 / 25