Session 1

The importance of linguistics for a language teacher

Linguistics is the study of languages and as such is of great importance to language teachers. Linguistics
helps teachers convey the origins of words and languages, their historical applications and their modern
day relevance. Combine this approach to teaching language helps students gain a better more in-depth
understanding of their assidments and work-product expectations.

Now, what are the uses of linguistics in teaching?

The use of linguistics in education is continuing to grow and is often cross-disciplinary in nature. Not only
is it utilized by language instructors, it is also used in early childhood development, psychology and
anthropology education as well. Linguistics is not only the study of language but also includes the
evolution and historical context of language, speech and ... developments. It includes structure and
meaning of speech and of written language as well as understanding the context in which certain words
are used. Therefore, you now know what the use of linguistics in teaching is.

I said that is used for the study of language, it is used for the study of evolution, and the historical
context of language. Linguistics is used for speech and memory development, etc.

Foreign languages:

When teaching a foreign language, linguistics is more important to a language teacher in that it provides
historical context toward the origins, which can help students better comprehend the language. This is
especially important when it comes to comprehending the differences among conversation speech,
formal speech, and ... about word usage in different cultures. This can actually overlap into original
dialects within the same country.

English language

Linguistics is equally important to language teachers. As I said, we are language teachers, and linguistics
is important for us. It is important for language teachers who provide instruction on the English
language. Linguistics helps students understand regional dialects and colloquialism. It also helps
students identify the origins of sayings and phrases that have evolved over time, but sayings that may
not have the same relevance or meaning in contemporary society. Linguistics can also help us against
self-embarrassment using words that are common whether they have historical contexts that may make
them inappropriate or in something implied society.

What is the importance of linguistics in writing, which is very important?

When the language teacher provides instruction on writing and composition, understanding linguistics is
important in helping students compose material that has its intended effect. For example, linguistics
plays a role in making an argumentative essay compelling if the writer can harness their knowledge of
words used to better stratify and represent a position. Likewise, an understanding of linguistics can help
a creative writing student develop prose that speaks to the readers’ senses and transports them to a
different state of reality.

In a society, let’s say, in which people communicate more than ever before via electronic means,
composition, meaning and even true exchange of ideas, through the written word can be lacking.
Teaching and studying linguistics provides the tools necessary to preserve and advance the art of
reading, writing and communication. This is essential in the educational areas, the workplace, and the
society.

What is language?

All of us know what language is, of course. Just like we know the palm of our hands. We all acquired a
language early in life. However, man has been interested in studying and understanding the language
that makes him human.

Language can be defined as the connection between people and a culture. It means that there is a
connection between each individual and a specific culture. The study of language has always played a
crucial role in the history of man. Man has tried to know his language, know has the speech sounds
relate to meaning when he or she is speaking or writing. For example, Chomsky, believes that all human
beings possess at birth an innate capacity to acquire a language. Such a capacity is biologically
determined that is it belongs to what is usually termed in human nature and it is passed from parents to
children as part of the offspring biological inheritance. The innate capacity in those speakers with the
general shape of human language but it is not detailed enough to dictate a precise tongue each child will
speak which accounts for why different languages are spoken in the world.

Two concepts in language:

Nature = What Chomsky says

Nurture = What his critics say, Dellhimes, who is one of the first critics of Chomsky, who believes that
Chomsky ignored the role of nurture, society, culture. His ideas formed communicate competence which
is at the center of CLT.

Chomsky argues that when we study human language we are approaching what might some call the
human essence, a distinctive quality of mind that are so far as we know is unique to human beings. All
human beings have known and used a language since childhood. Therefore, human beings make use of
their language automatically without any conscious effort in his life. In native language, a native speaker
of a language is able to produce particular sentences that he or she hears from his/her mother. Thus, he
or she is certainly able to produce and understand an infinite number of possible sentences naturally in
his or her language. The word language is often used to refer to several kinds of human activity, such as
the language of music, the language of circles and so on. However, in its ordinary sense, it primarily
focuses on the oral and written medium that is used to communicate with one another. We use it
especially to refer to human language and thus we tend to distinguish between language and other
forms of communication. A general definition characterizes language as a system of arbitrary vocals,
symbols by means of which members of a society interact with one another. Language varies over the
centuries, it varies geographically, and it also varies from situation to situation. We do not speak in the
same way in all situations. For example, in a law of court, a classroom, at church, on the phone, at work,
at a football match, or to our friends, doctors, husbands, wives, bosses, children and etc.

A language cannot be accounted for by a uniform set of rules which are always valid and always applied
in the same way.
The rules of each language event vary according to the nature of the activity whether the medium is
speech or writing. The rules of the participants, their relationships, their functions and intentions and so
on. This means that every speaker has a number of different styles which he changes according to the
situation. To apply the same set of rules to all situations is sympathetic of him. The ability to grasp how
much we vary in our linguistics behavior from one situation to another, and how much this variation is
responsible for the flexibility of the language which enables us to use it for computer programs,
advertisements, poetry, business, and so on.

Some researchers may mention that a species, a specific event uniform of men. It is God’s special gift to
mankind. The researcher adds that human expression which is uttered out by speech organs. Some
other researchers believe that a complex specialized scheme which develops in the child spontaneous
without conscious effort or formal instruction, which is developed without awareness of its underlying
logics. It’s qualitatively the same in every individual.

Another researcher in linguistics mentions that language is not something that comes in nicely packaged
units and that it certainly is multiple complex and chaotic. For example, Brown defines a number of
language definitions such as language is systematic, language is a set of arbitrary symbols, language is
used for communication, language operates in speech community or culture, language is acquired by all
people in much the same way. Language and language learning both have universal characteristics,
language is essentially human, although possibly not limited to humans. Finally, another researcher
indicates language is the principal means whereby we conduct our social lives when it is used in context
of communication. It is bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways. Some other researchers
define language as a final system of elements and principles that make it possible for the speaker to
construct sentences to do particular communicative jobs. For examples, some researchers, believe that
a part of the system that allows speakers to produce and interpret grammatical sentences is called
grammatical competence. It includes the knowledge of what speech sounds are part of a given language
and how they may and may not be strong together. They believe that grammatical competence
contributes similarity to comprehension in all human languages. According to these ideas about
language, the second part of language definition refers to the notion of communicative competence
people frequently use of it in order to communicate with other people in the society. In addition,
grammatical competence and communicative competence are necessary for given interactions. In fact, a
lot of ... uses of language is not its sentences at all but in discourse units larger and smaller than
sentences. For example, language is defined as a mental phenomenon, a body of knowledge about
sounds, meanings and syntax which reside in the mind. Language is based on the most ideas of the two
principles: language is a system of arbitrary symbols. It used for human communication.

Linguistics

Over the world, people try to spend an immense amount of words in their life talking in order to
communicate with other people in human societies. Thus an inability to use an immense amount of
words can affect the people’s status in society and may directly affect their personality because
language is important in human life, every year the role of language is an integral part of being human is
increased among branches of linguistics such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc.

In general, linguistics has always tried to answer the basic question related to language. What is
language? How does language work? What do languages change in the history of human being? Why are
all the languages in the world not the same? Hence, these questions have been frequently discussed by
language experts through the world. What is important that languages have in common in learning?
According to the discussion in my lecture, it is believed that the study of language could be related to a
specific and an important factor which is language as a complex system of human mind. We can say here
that the one aim of linguists is to describe what men know about his language and the second purpose
of him is to consider how men acquire the knowledge of that language and the third aim is what is
important for the linguists is that how man uses it in order to communicate in the society, and number 4
is how the linguists help men use his mind to understand the language and the last aim is that the
linguists should know that men can complete his language knowledge implicitly because men grow up
with his language.

A question arises here and that is What is linguistics? It should be mentioned that the word linguistics
has been derived from Latin lingua, which means tongue and istics means knowledge. Therefore,
linguistics means knowledge of tongue or language. It should be added that linguistics based on
etymology is a scientific study of language but it is the study of not one particular language but of
human language in general. Therefore, linguistics studies language as a universal and recognizable part
of human behavior. Linguistics is that science which attempts to describe and analyze human language
and also studies the origins, organizations, nature and development of language descriptively,
historically, comparatively and explicitly. Thus, it attempts to classify languages over the world. It
formulates the general rules related to language. It considers language based on diachronic (historical),
which studies their development of language through history and time. One other branch of linguistics is
synchronic linguistics, which studies how the people speak and use language in a given speech
community at a given time.

Widison mentions that linguistics is the name given to the discipline which studies human language.
Chomsky also defines linguistics as it’s principally concerned with the universal of human mind. He adds
that linguistics can be defined as a branch of cognitive psychology. Richards indicates that linguistics is
the study of language as a system of human communication. Although studies of language phenomena
have been carried out for centuries, it is only fairly recently that linguistics has been accepted as an
independent discipline. Linguistics now covers a wide field with different approaches and different areas
of investigations such as phonetics, phonology, syntax and semantics. It is believed that linguistics is a
science systematic body of knowledge and theory and linguistics is a body of knowledge and
understanding concerning the nature and function of human language being thought up of information
about the structure, and the operation and the history of a wide range of different human languages by
means of those disciplines and procedures that have proved most successfully in establishing verifiable
relationship among linguistics.

Linguistics and English language

Before entering directly into an investigation of linguistics the place of it in English language what is
important is that both linguistics and language are closely related. Investigations and attempts have
been done to find out answers to certain fundamental questions about language. For example, the
question of what is language? How is a language learned? What is the difference between the first
language acquisition and the second language acquisition? Why is second language learning difficult?
And what are the similarities and differences between one language to another and therefore there are
more questions such as animal language, child language, etc. However, there are many misconceptions
about these questions. These questions are part of what we have discussed as linguistics but researchers
and language teachers are also concerned with these questions. One of the three groups of the language
studies is linguists. Linguist is a person who studies linguistics. He has the ability to study linguistics
phenomena. We can conclude that linguistics as scientific study of languages studies the original
language and tries to answer the above questions. Therefore, language needs linguistics in several
different scientific works and linguistics can help to strengthen all the language issues are reaching to
answer the fundamental question human language.

The teaching of English in a second or foreign language setting remains as the most important issue in
language education in recent years. Researchers argue that in the 20 th century the role of linguistics on
language teaching has been preeminent. They add that this is in part due to its high profile as a new and
innovative discipline and the general believe that it is the nature of language which most relevant to
language teaching. Teaching of English language in ELT classroom obviously depends on the English
teachers, linguistics and syllabus designers. Linguistics always provides the best process of learning
English language to the students in the history of English language there have been several hypotheses
with regard to the kind of English instruction to motivate the students in learning their English language.

Language teaching is carried out in all kinds of different issues of linguistics. During the past 50 years,
linguistics attempts to apply theoretical models of language to issues in second language education,
however these theories have focused on issues of generative linguistics, cognitive linguistics and
systematic linguistics. One of the most influential figures in linguistics, Chomsky, believes that
behaviorists fail to account for the logical problem of language acquisition. He believes that the child
learns his language the same as the child who learns to walk. Thus, generative linguistics produces very
detailed and often doubtingly technical analysis of small areas of individual languages.

End of session of 1
Session 2

Transformational Generative Grammar:

Transformational grammar is a device for generating sentences. It generates only the well-formed or
grammatically correct sentences of a language since it is meant to create the rules and principles which
are in the mind or brain of a native speaker.

Transformational Generative Grammar is concerned with competence NOT performance. It is concerned

with rules and principles.

Transformational grammar is an expression that designates a genre of generative grammar that uses
transformational rules or other mechanisms to represent the displacements of constituents and other
natural language phenomena. In particular the term shows particularly only those theories that have
been developed in the Chomskiean tradition. This term is usually synonymous of the more concrete
transformational generative grammar.

Generation of grammar sentences

A generative grammar in the sense that Noam Chomsky uses the term is a formulized system of rules
with mathematical precision that without requiring information ...to the system produces the
grammatical sentences of the language. It describes or characterizes and assigns to each sentence a
structural description or grammatical analysis. Each and every one of the concepts disclosed in this
definition of generative grammar will be explained and exemplified later in my lecture.

Generative grammars are of two types: The first type is known as transformational generative grammar
or simply transformational.

The transformational grammar was initiated by Harris in the development of a work of what he called
allegation analysis – the formal analysis of the structure of the progressive text. It was perfected by
Chomsky who gave him in addition to this a different theoretical basis.

Now let’s look at the difference between Harris grammar and Chomsky grammar:

Harris Grammar:

Harris distinguished ... of grammatical sentences of a given language two complementary subsets:
nuclear sentences and non-nuclear sentences:

Chomsky’s system of transformational grammar although developed with the foundation of Harris
grammar differs from these in many aspects.

Deep structure and surface structure (Chomsky)

During the 15th and 16th of the 20th century Noam Chomsky developed the term each sentence has two
different levels of representations. A deep structure and superficial structure or surface structure. The
deep structure was a direct representation of the semantic information of the sentence and was
associated with the superficial structure that one tends to reproduce the phonological way of the
sentence through transformation. There is a widespread misunderstanding according to which the deep
structure was supposed to be identical in each and every natural language.
Chomsky believes that deep structures are the same in all languages – universal grammar.

However, that was no what exactly Chomsky suggested. Chomsky believed that there should be
remarkable similarities between the deep structure of different languages and that these structures
would reveal properties common to each and every one of the languages that are hidden under their
surface structure. It is controversial that a motivation to introduce the transformation was simply to
make more mathematically powerful grammars instead of explaining the origin of the syntactic
alterations between languages. While for Chomsky, the ability of grammatical theory at the time to
generalize its analysis of different languages is essential certain key work at the beginning of
transformational grammar, for example, the work of Chomsky aspects of the theory of syntax
emphasized the role that transformation plays in achieving the precise level of mathematical power in
the syntax complement of grammar.

Principles and parameters

‫ پ ارامتر ه ا ب ه نح وه اس تفاده از اون‬.)‫ دارن‬... ‫اصول به اون چارچوب کلی اشاره می کنه (مثالً همه زبان ها فعل و فاع ل و مفع ول‬
.‫اصول اشاره می کنه‬

Grammars should be descriptive NOT prescriptive:

Grammars should characterize competence NOT performance.

Grammars should be fully explicit.

Linguistic analysis should be maximally general.

The theory of grammar should make universal claims.

Grammars should be psychologically relevant.

Innate linguistics knowledge:

Competence = accuracy

Performance = fluency

Terms such as transformation can give the impression that series of transformational generative
grammar are understood as a model of the process through which the human mind deals and
understands sentences. Chomsky believes that this is not the case. Generative grammar models only the
knowledge that underlines the human ability to chat and understand. One of the main Chomskiean
ideas is that the majority of such knowledge is innate that each and every language is composed from a
series of principles which only change in certain factors. Therefore, a baby can have a huge expectation
about the structure of a language generally and only needs to infer the values of certain factors for the
language he or she is learning. Chomsky was not the first to suggest that each and every language shares
certain aspects. He codes thinkers who had postulated exactly the same ideas multiple centuries ago.
For example, Plato, ...

Ideas that had not yet been integrated into a scientific ...
Chomsky elaborated a scientific theory of an innate in response to the dominant model from
behaviorism.

Chomsky even claims that babies do not need to learn constructions that are specific to each language
and the reason for this assertion is that each and every language seems to continue the same patterns
of rules, which are known as universal grammar, but the effect of these rules can be interaction
between them can change greatly depending on the values of certain universal linguistic factors. This
definitive premise is one of the levels in which transformational grammar differs from most schools.

Therefore, generative grammar is any model of grammar that generates well-formed sentences of the
language. The idea is that since humans create new sentences every time, they speak and can
understand sentences they have never heard before. The human capacity for learners much involve
pattern recognition in generation of sentences that fit those patterns. For example, English speakers
know automatically that in order to make a content question, you put a question word at the beginning
followed by the first auxiliary verb followed by the subject, and children pick up this pattern without
ever being explicitly taught. An adequate model of English must be able to generate sentences according
to this sort of pattern. Transformational grammar was one of Noam Chomsky’s early proposals for a
specific type of generative grammar so from the late 1950s through 1970s, you would see the term used
interchangeably sometimes.

In transformational grammar, the patters of language were formulized using rules to generate basic
phrase structures and transformation to relate these two complex surface structures. For example,
questions are formed from underlying structures by a transformation that moved the question word and
the auxiliary. Therefore, generative grammar a concept in linguistics. It is the explanation given by Noam
Chomsky to solve the problem of how language is acquired and more broadly how language is
structured within our mind or brain. For the theory of generative grammar Chomsky is a respected as
the father of modern linguistics because of the incredible value of his findings, which have impressive
implications also for psychology and neuroscience philosophy and other fields.

Universal grammar is composed of a fixed set of principle which are really found in every existing
language: For example, the principle which says that the subject must be always present in every
sentence. In some languages like Italian, there is a parameter which allows the speakers to not
pronounce the subject. However, the subject is still there, although hidden. The so-called principles and
parameters framework is capable of explaining why there are so many similarities in the grammars of
different languages. But at the same time there appear so different on the surface thanks to these
elements, the child is able to acquire the grammar of a language in impressively short time. He just
applies the principles he already has and then he elaborates the parameters that are active in that
language setting them on while switching off those which are not present in that language.

The overall theory of generative grammar which is not limited to the principles and parameters tries to
explain the biological basis of language and how the cognitive architecture of language works in our
brains. This means explaining how your thoughts are computed in your mind in the form of words and
phrases. According to the rules defined by the principles and parameters, in this way, those concepts are
externalized in the form of utterance and they have meaning.

Generative grammar explains how language is generated by very few computational procedures in your
mind thanks to an extremely complex biological system. For this reason, generative linguistics work in a
very abstract way formulizing grammatical structure in mathematical terms to understand those
computations. Generative Grammar = formal linguistics

Principle

Parameter

Deep structure

Surface Structure

Generative Grammar ‫چه اصولی رو داره‬

‫ چی هست؟‬Universal Grammar ‫منظور از‬

‫ بچه ها زبان رو چطور یاد می گیرن؟‬Universal Grammar ‫طبق نظریات‬

‫ ها‬structurists ‫ ها و در نهایت‬cognitivists ‫ ها و بعد‬behaviorists ‫اول‬

:‫سیر تاریخیش‬
‫ شناخت گرایان و سازنده گرایان‬،‫رفتارگرایان‬
.‫چامسکی رفتارگرایان رو کوبید و بعد سازنده گرایان اومدن چامسکی رو کوبیدن‬

Strengths

Chomsky stressed the creative or generative aspects of the language faculty. Before the Chomskiean
revolution, the Skinnarian behaviorists approach rules of their language were pretty much thought to be
a simple response to environmental stimuli. Chomsky put the emphasis on our possibly innate capacity
to ... a language in our heads. I say possibly because it’s a very controversial and as yet unresolved issue.
This shows the old nature (‫ )ذهن‬with nurture (‫جامعه‬/‫)محیط‬. Chomsky’s approach was instrumental. It was
significant in bringing about the cognitive science revolution which perceives from the assumption that
the mind is composed of structured representations that are combinational rule-bound and generative
and not just some connectionist network of patterned associations.

The use of transformations highlighted the multi-layered nature of grammatical structures and how
what you see is not always what you get. For example, how does one get from the active to the passive
voice? What operations must occur? You might fail to acquire some of these operations by adult two
speakers show the amazing building capacity of a child brain? Some of these multi-lateral analysis went
quite ... toward explaining and clarifying linguistic complexity that are more logically concise than
previous modeled traditional approach to teaching syntax. They brought an almost mathematical clarity
to the questions of language that have always seem opaque or ambiguous.

Weaknesses

Chomsky’s approach is largely related to syntax. (‫ نحو‬- ‫)اولین ایراد به نظریات چامسکی‬.

‫ یا کاربردشناس ی‬pragmatics ‫ و حتی به‬.‫ به آواشناسی و معناشناسی‬.‫ نرفته اشاره بکنه‬semantics ‫ و‬phonology ‫گفتن ایشون به‬
.‫حتی اشاره نکرده‬
These actually lead to a bitter ... in the early generative tradition by those who wanted to propose that
not only were deeper levels of syntax encoded in the brain but semantics was too. This overall emphasis
on syntax has unfortunately led to separation of linguistics from philosophy, which emphasizes
semantics.

.‫ کار داره‬semantics ‫ با‬،‫ کاری نداره‬syntax ‫فلسفه با‬

Chomsky’s rationalistic orientation has also isolated linguistics from psychology and neurology, which
are ... in approach.

In such from other domains has unfortunately not always played a big role in constraining theoretical
proposals by the diehard Chomsky.

Chomsky’s rationalist approach which tends to dismiss empirical evidence in conflict with the theory.
Chomsky tends to write of such contradictory evidence has mere performance phenomena of no use to
the abstractions that generative linguists is integrated is exploring.

.‫ به درد ما نمی خوره‬Performance .‫ کار دارم‬competence ‫چامسکی می گه من فقط با‬

‫ ک امپتنس یع نی چی؟ یع نی آن چ یزی ک ه م ا نمی بی نیم یع نی هم ون‬.‫پرفورمنس یعنی آن چیزی که ما می بی نیم یع نی ص حبت ک ردن‬
.‫قواعدی که توی ذهن هست‬

...not dismissed empirical evidence that conflicts with or complicates the Chomskian analysis seems to
lead to innovation, which are really not contracted for any reason other than the accommodate this new
... into theory. This makes the theory unbelievably complex. It simply ... to believe that the human brain
and the child brain is capable of accommodating so many complicated layers of branching, deep
structures, surface structures and other structures. It is assumed that the theory is trying to address
questions of how language is actually structured in the brain although some of Chomsky’s recent
remarks make me question if that is an actual goal of ... He seems more interested in idealization that
work better than testing those proposals against the admittedly frustrating real-world evidence.

.‫این دو ایراد رو به چامسکی گرفتن‬

‫یکی اینکه چرا فقط به سینتکس گیر دادی و یکی دیگه اینکه چرا در عمل زبان رو بررسی نمی کنی و فقط در محیط آزمایشگاه مغیر‬
.‫و ایسلیشن کردن و زبان رو فقط در قالب همون ایسلیشون بررسی می کنی‬

End of session 2
Session 3

More information on Generative grammar.

In linguistics generative grammar is a set of language rules that indicates the structure and
interpretation of sentences that native speakers of a language accept as belonging to their language.
Adapting the term generative from mathematics, linguist Noam Chomsky introduced the concept of
generative grammar in the 1950s. This theory which is also known as transformational grammar, a term
still used today.

Now, what are some features of generative grammar?

Generative grammar is s series of grammar first developed by Noam Chomsky in the 1950s that is based
on the idea that all humans have an innate language capacity. Linguists who study generative grammar
are not interested in prescriptive rules. Rather, they are interested in uncovering (finding out) the
foundational principles that guide all language production. Third, generative grammar accepts as a
basic premise that native speakers of a language would find certain sentences grammatical or
ungrammatical and that these judgments give insight into the rules governing to use of that language.

A brief definition of generative grammar: What is generative grammar?

Grammar refers to a set of rules that structure a language, including syntax, which means the
arrangement of words to form phrases and sentences, morphology, the study of words and how they
are formed. And generative grammar is a series of grammar that holds that human language is shaped
by a set of basic principles that are part of the human brain and are present in the brains of small
children. This universal grammar according to linguists like Chomsky comes from our innate language
faculty (‫)نظام از پیش ساخته شده‬.

In linguistics, researchers argue that generative grammar is a kind of unconscious knowledge that allows
a person no matter what language they speak to form correct sentences. It should be mentioned that a
generative grammar is a series of competence, a model of the psychological system of unconscious
knowledge that underlies a speaker’s ability to produce and interpret utterances in their language.

A good way of trying to understand Chomsky’s point is to think of generative grammar as essentially the
definition of competence - a set of criteria that linguistic structures must meet to be judged acceptable.

Competence = Ideal speaker

Generative vs. prescriptive grammar

Generative grammar is distinct from other grammars such as prescriptive grammar which attempts to
establish standardized language rules that’s being certain usages right or wrong. Generative grammar
attempts to get at something deeper – the foundational principles that make language possible across
all humanity.

For example, a prescriptive grammarian may study how parts of speech are ordered in English sentences
with the goal of laying out rules. On the other hand, a linguist studying generative grammar is more
likely to be interested in issues such as how nouns are distinguished from verbs across multiple
languages.

Prescriptive = ‫قانون در یک زبان‬

Generative ‫قوانین جهانی‬

Descriptive ‫در عمل چه اتفاقی می افته‬

Principles of generative grammar:

The main principle of generative grammar is that all humans are born with an innate capacity for
language and this capacity shapes the rules for what is considered correct grammar in a language. The
idea of an innate language capacity or in universal grammar is no accepted by all linguistics. Some
believe, to the contrary, that all languages are learned and therefore based on certain constraints.
Proponents of the universal grammar arguments believe that children when they are very young are
modeled to go into enough linguistic information to learn the rules of grammar. That children in fact do
learn the rules of grammar is proof according to some linguists that there is an innate language capacity
that allows them to overcome the poverty of the stimulus.

.‫ یک کودک با یک زبان محدودی براش صحبت میشه‬.2 .‫محیط کودک پر از خطا هست‬

Examples of generative grammar:

As generative grammar is a series of competence, one way to test its validity is with what is called a
grammaticality judgment task.

This involves presenting a native speaker with a series of sentences and having them decide whether the
sentences are grammatical or ungrammatical. For example, the man is happy. Happy man is the. A
competent language user can immediately say that the first sentence is grammatical but the second
sentence is not grammatical or it is ungrammatical.

A native speaker would therefore judge the first sentence to be acceptable and the second to be
unacceptable. From these, we can make certain assumptions about the rules governing how parts of
speech should be ordered in English sentences. For instance, a “to be” verb linking a noun and an
adjective must follow the noun and precede the adjective.

.‫ هستش‬deep structure ‫ که چامسکی روش تمرکز داشته چی هست؟ یا‬language competence ‫حاال این‬

The term linguistic competence refers to unconscious knowledge of grammar that allows a speaker to
use and understand a language. Also known as grammatical competence, or “I language”, which is in
contrast with linguistic performance.

.‫ داریم‬surface structure ‫ داریم در مقابلش‬deep structure ‫اگر‬

grammatical ‫ نداره و کل تمرکزش بر روی‬performance ‫ یا همون‬surface structure ‫ کاری به‬generative grammar ‫و‬
.‫ هستش‬I language ‫ یا‬deep structure ‫ یا‬competence
As used by Noam Chomsky and other linguists, linguistic competence is not an evaluative term. Rather it
refers to the innate linguistic knowledge that allows a person to match sounds and meanings. In aspects
of the theory of syntax, which is published in 1965, Chomsky wrote: We thus make a fundamental
distinction between competence, which is the speaker-hearer’s knowledge of his language and
performance – the actual use of language in concrete situation.

Under this theory, linguistic competence only functions properly under idealized conditions.

A condition which is free from obstacles of memory, distraction and emotion and other factors that
might cause even a native speaker to make or fail to notice grammatical mistakes.

Language competence = generative grammar = all native speakers of a language have an unconscious
understanding governing the language. Many linguists have severely criticized this distinction between
competence and performance arguing that it ignores data or privileges certain groups over others.
Linguist William Lobav, for instance, said in 1991, it is now evident to many linguists the primary purpose
of the performance-competence distinction has been to help linguists exclude date which he finds
inconvenient to have them. If performance involves limitations of memory, attention, and articulation,
then we must consider the entire English grammar to be a matter of performance. Other critics argue
that this distinction makes other linguistic concepts different to explain or categorize. While still others
argue that a meaningful distinction cannot be made between because of how the two processes are
interchangeably related. Therefore, linguistic competence consists of knowledge of language, but that
knowledge is implicit, unconscious. This means that conscious access to the principles and rules that
govern the combination of sounds, words and sentences. However, they do recognized when those
rules and principles have been violated. For example, when a person judges that “John said that Jane
helped himself” is ungrammatical it’s because the person has passive knowledge or implicit knowledge
of a grammatical principle that reflexive pronouns must refer ...

Linguistic competence and linguistic performance

In Chomsky’s theory, our linguistic competence is our unconscious knowledge of a language and is
similar in some ways to ... concept of language Lang (competence) – the organizing principles of
language.

Lang (competence) and parole (speaking or performance)

Lang, which means the organizing principles of a language – What we actually produce as utterances is
similar to ...’s parole, which is called linguistic performance.

The difference between linguistic competence and linguistic performance can be illustrated by slips of
the tongue, such as ... noble sounds of toil [to work extremely hard]

Utterances such as ... don’t mean that we don’t know English, but rather, we’ve simply made a mistake
because we were tied, distracted, or whatever. Such errors also do not mean you are a poor English
speaker or that you don’t English as well. It means that linguistic performance is different from linguistic
competence. When we say someone is a better speaker than someone else, these judgments tell us
about performance NOT competence. Therefore, two language users may have the same language
program for carrying specific tasks of production and recognition but defying their ability apply it
because of extraneous variables, such as short term memory capacity. The two are equally language
competent but not necessarily equally adept or skillful at making use of their competence.

End of session 3
Session 4

The implications of Chomsky and transformational generative grammar on the education:

The relationship between language and the mind has had considerable interests and research among
psychologists and language specialists. This relationship is often regarded as being intricate due to the
nature of language itself and the difficulty of studying the mind as a subject matter. My present lecture
tries to highlight and explain the interrelationship between human language and the mind on the basis
of Noam Chomsky’s works, focusing mainly on generative linguistics and innateness. In this respect, this
paper, my lecture sheds light on the implications of Chomsky’s cognitive views of language on the
teaching or learning of English as a foreign language.

.‫ یعنی قوانین محدود جمالت نامحدود تولید می کنن‬generative

‫ چ ه چ یزی این وس ط‬.‫ ها هم یه سری قوانینی که تبدیل می کنه ساختارهای درون دیب استراکچر رو به جمالت‬transformational
.‫ از دیب به سرفیس‬transformational rules = ‫می یاد مداخله می کنه‬

End of session 4
Session 5

Error analysis and transformational generative grammar or TGG or transformational generative

grammar

Very recently teachers of writing have shown in a method of study that language teachers have been
using now for some time. That method of study is error analysis, a device that has been used by
teachers informally for some time but which has received serious attention from linguists and language
teaching methodologists.

‫ و بع د‬.‫ رو بی ان ک رد‬cognitive psychology ‫ بج اش اوم د‬.‫ ق رار گ رفت‬structuralism ‫چامش کی اوم د و در مقاب ل‬
.‫ بود‬deductive‫ کار کرد در حالی که چامسکی بیشتر‬inductive discovery ‫ روی‬structuralism

competence ‫ بیشتر تأکید می کرد ولی چامسکی بیشتر بر روی‬performance ‫استراکچلیزم بیشتر بر روی‬

universal grammar ‫ کار کرد ولی چامسکی روی‬descriptive grammar ‫استراکچلیزم بر روی‬

‫خالصه ای از تفاوت ها‬

.‫ رو زیر سوال برد و نظرات خودش رو بیان کرد‬structuralism ‫چامسکی‬

.‫ رو داریم‬transformalsim ‫ جی رو داریم؟‬structuralism ‫پس ما در مقابل‬

transformalsim ‫کاربرد های‬

‫ یکی از کارهایی که میتونیم بکنیم بای د‬،‫ بر اساس نظریات چامسکی‬.‫ دانش اونها مهم هست‬.‫ ها استفاده کنیم‬native speaker ‫باید از‬
‫ چ ون ع اری از ه ر‬.‫ ها نوش ته میش ه‬native ‫ قرار بدیم یا کتاب های درسی که توسط‬native accent ‫زبان آموزان را در معرض‬
.‫ هستن‬ideal ‫گونه خطا هستن و‬

.‫ بودن مهم است‬ideal ‫به عقیده چامسکی زبان چگونه در گفتمان استفاده میشه مهم نیست بلکه اون‬

‫ ها‬structurist ‫ بر می گرده به‬contrastive analysis ‫ریشه های‬

.‫ چقدر می تونه با نظریات چامسکی در یک راستا باشه؟ خیلی کم‬error analysis ‫پس‬

‫ و اینک ه چ ه هچیزه ایی رو ت و ذهنش‬.‫ یکی به ما نمی گه اون فرد چه توان ایی ه ا رو داره‬error-analysis ‫از دو روش ایراد داره‬
.‫نداره و از اونها فرار می کنه‬

End of session 5
Session 6

Three important elements in SLF?

Chomsky says: What you know!

Halliday says: What you do!

Meaning making = ‫ به ص ورت‬،‫ یا کالس درس‬،‫ باید در بافت جامعه‬.‫حتما در محیط واقعی باشه و در محیط آزمایشگاهی نباشه‬
‫اینترکشن باشه یعنی در تعامل اتفاق می افته و در نهایت یه ه دفی پش ت این مینین گ میکین گ هس ت مثالً ق انع ک ردن کس ی ب ه انج ام‬
‫ یا درخواست و‬،‫ کاری‬...

Halliday ‫ از منظر‬need ‫انوع و اقسام‬

‫ یه معنای استفاده از تجارب‬ideational

‫ یه نقش های اجتماعی ما در جامعه اشاره می کنه‬interpersonal

.‫ جمالت و ساختارهای زبانی که استفاده می کنیم که بتوانیم معنا رو در مکالمه انتقال بدیم یا بفهمیم‬textual

Systemic functional linguistics is the study of the relationship between language and its

functions in social settings. Also known as SFL, systemic functional grammar,
Hallidayan linguistics, and systemic linguistics.

Three strata [elements] make up the linguistic system in SFL: meaning (semantics),
sound (phonology), and wording or lexicogrammar (syntax, morphology, and lexis).

Systemic functional linguistics treats grammar as a meaning-making resource and

insists on the interrelation of form and meaning. This field of study was developed in the
1960s by British linguist M.A.K. Halliday (b. 1925), who had been influenced by the work
of the Prague School and British linguist J.R. Firth (1890-1960).

Purpose of Systemic Linguistics

"SL [systemic linguistics] is an avowedly functionalist approach to language, and it is
arguably the functionalist approach which has been most highly developed. In contrast
to most other approaches, SL explicitly attempts to combine purely structural
information with overtly social factors in a single integrated description. Like other
functionalist frameworks, SL is deeply concerned with the purposes of language use.
Systemicists constantly ask the following questions: What is this writer (or speaker)
trying to do? What linguistic devices are available to help them do it, and on what basis
do they make their choices?" (Robert Lawrence Trask and Peter Stockwell, Language
and Linguistics: The Key Concepts. Routledge, 2007)

Principles of SFL

Functional linguistics holds that:

 Language use is functional

  Its function is to make meanings (meaning making)
 These meanings are influenced by the social and cultural context in which they
are exchanged
 The process of using language is a semiotic process, a process of making
meaning by choosing.

Functional-Semantic Approach to Language

"While individual scholars naturally have different research emphases or application
contexts, common to all systemic linguists is an interest in language as social semiotic
(meaning) (Halliday 1978)--how people use language with each other in
accomplishing everyday social life. This interest leads systemic linguists to advance four
main theoretical claims about language: These four points, that language use is
functional, semantic, contextual and semiotic, can be summarized by describing the
systemic approach as a functional-semantic approach to language."
(Suzanne Eggins, An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics, 2nd ed.
Continuum, 2005)

Social-Functional "Needs" (individual needs)

"According to Halliday (1975), language has developed in response to three kinds of
social-functional 'needs.' The first is to be able to construe experience in terms of what
is going on around us and inside us. The second is to interact with the social world by
negotiating social roles and attitudes. The third and final need is to be able to create
messages with which we can package our meanings in terms of what is New or Given,
and in terms of what the starting point for our message is, commonly referred to as
the Theme. Halliday (1978) calls these language functions metafunctions and refers to
them as ideational, interpersonal and textual respectively.
"Halliday's point is that any piece of language calls into play all three metafunctions
simultaneously."
(Peter Muntigl and Eija Ventola, "Grammar: A Neglected Resource in Interaction
Analysis?" New Adventures in Language and Interaction, ed. by Jürgen Streeck. John
Benjamins, 2010)

Choice as a Systemic Concept

"In Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) the notion of choice is fundamental.
Paradigmatic relations are regarded as primary, and this is captured descriptively by
organizing the basic components of the grammar in interrelated systems of features
representing 'the meaning potential of a language.' A language is viewed as a 'system
of systems,' and the linguist's task is to specify the choices involved in the process of
instantiating this meaning potential in actual 'texts' through the resources available for
expression in the language. Syntagmatic relations are viewed as derived from systems
by means of realization statements, which for each feature specify the formal and
structural consequences of selecting that particular feature. The term 'choice' is typically
used for features and their selection, and systems are said to display 'choice relations.'
Choice relations are posited not only at the level of individual categories such as
definiteness, tense and number but also at higher levels of text planning (as in, e.g., the
grammar of speech functions). Halliday often stresses the importance of the notion of
choice: 'By 'text' . . . we understand a continuous process of semantic choice. Text is
meaning and meaning is choice' (Halliday, 1978b:137)."
(Carl Bache, "Grammatical Choice and Communicative Motivation: A Radical Systemic
Approach." Systemic Functional Linguistics: Exploring Choice, ed. by Lise Fontaine,
Tom Bartlett, and Gerard O'Grady. Cambridge University Press, 2013)

End of session 6
Session 7

SFL

‫؟‬fluency ‫ براشون مهم تر هست یا‬accuracy ‫ به نظرتون‬Halliday ‫برای آقای‬

fluency ‫ بیش تر روی‬Halliday ‫ تأکید و تمرکز داشت در صورتی که‬ideal speaker ‫ یا‬accuracy ‫آقای چامسکی بیشتر بر روی‬
.‫متمرکز هست‬

According to SFL, language is classified into context (discourse), semantics, lexcicogrammar, and
phonology = four different layers

Semantics and lexicogrammar are content classification while phonology and phonetics in the spoken
mode and graphology or ghraphatics in the written mode are expression of classification.

Language is classified in that sounds can combine words which are organized into structures of
lexicogrammar in which in turn shape meaning.

‫ می تونه در آموزش استفاده بشه‬SFL ‫یکی از اون حوزه های که‬

.‫ آموزش بر مبنای ژانر‬.‫ هست‬genre-based pedagogy

... ‫ تاریخی و‬،‫ژانرا یعنی چی؟ مثال ادبی‬

.‫ ها بیاین تدریس کنید‬need ‫ بر اساس‬SFL

End of session 7