An Introduction to Linguistics

Bibhuti Bhusan Mahapatra

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 1

 Some Approaches to the Study of Language

 Ancient Indian thinkers paid a good deal of attention

to the nature of language; Panini’s Ashta:dhya:yi: is
a significant work in the tradition.
 Saussure’s concept of language (Early 20th Century)
 Austin’s use-theory of language (1962)
 Chomsky’s biolinguistic assumptions (1957
onwards)

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 2

 Saussure’s Concepts about Language

 Diachrony vs. Synchrony

 Langue vs. Parole
 Signifier vs. Signified
 Associative vs. Syntagmatic Relation

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 3

 Diachrony vs. Synchrony

 Diachrony
Studying a language at two different points of time;
relating two different stages of a language
 Synchrony
Studying a language as a complete system at a
particular point of time

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 4

 Langue vs. Parole

 Langue
The ‘system’ of a language exists in a speech
community, in the collectivity; it is shared by all
the speakers of that speech community

 Parole
An individual’s use of the system of ‘langue’

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 5

 Signifier vs. Signified

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 6

 Signifier-Signified Relationship
 Signifier
The sound/utterance which is related to a
‘concept’
 Signified
The ‘concept’ which is related to the
sound/utterance
 The signifier and the signified are not separable;
together, they form a sign.
 The relation between the signifier and the
signified is not natural, but arbitrary. Thus,
languages are different from one another

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 7

 Language as a Form
 Language is a form shaping both thought and
utterance simultaneously.

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 8

 Associative vs. Syntagmatic Relation
 Associative Relation
A sign is associated with other signs of a
language by similarity and difference. The
associated signs are in a set of choices.
 Syntagmatic Relation
A sign occurs with other signs in a chain (e.g. in a
phrase or in a sentence).
Language is organised by selecting from a set of
choices of signs to a chain of signs.

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 9

 Some examples of the relations
1) The old man
2) The young man
3) The tall man
 In (1), the sign old is in syntagmatic relation with the and
man
 As (2) and (3) show, the sign old in (1), is associated with
young and tall, and is substitutable by them.
 The associative relations are not visible in a construction;
they are related in absentia; the syntagmatic relations are
in presentia.
 Concept of sign applies to every unit of a language, such
as a phoneme, a morpheme, etc.

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 10

 Austin’s Use-theory of Language
(How to Do Things with Words)

 Language does not merely refer to things; it is

used in the society to perform certain
communicative functions.
 The use theory of language attempts to arrive at a
restricted set of conditions for the language use.
 Using language means doing things

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 11

 Utterance types
 Constative vs. Performative
 Constative
Constative utterances are statements; their function is to
describe some event, process or state-of-affairs; and they (or the
propositions expressed by them) have the property of being
either true or false.
 Performative
Performative utterances, by contrast, have no truth value; they
are used to do something, rather than to say something is or is
not the case. They refer to the fact of their own successful
performance.

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 12

 Speech Acts
Locutionary,Illocutionary and Perlocutionary Acts
 Locutionary act
Uttering noise you know have meaning
 Illocutionary act
Utterance invokes a conventional force. Doing something in saying something.
Some examples :
 Asking a question
 Making a promise
 Making an appeal
 Perlocutionary act
Utterance brings about an effect on the hearer. Doing something by saying
something. Some examples:
Warn someone
Persuade someone
Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 13
 Generative Grammar
and
Chomsky’s Biolinguistic Assumptions
Language is a biological endowment
 It is innate
 It interacts with other cognitive
systems

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 14

 Innateness

 As a part of our brain, there is a Faculty of Language

(FL).
 A human child is born with innate biological abilities
to learn any human language.
 A child does not “learn” language but it matures by
being exposed to the linguistic environment, in the
same way as the vision matures. In both the cases the
innate biological abilities mature.

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 15

 Some Speculations about FL

 FL is relatively a recent biological development.

 The basic nature of the FL is symbolic; it has no
direct correspondence to physical objects.
 Its development may not be strictly for
communication. (Chomsky, 2004)

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 16

 FL: Its Initial State and Modifications

 FL has an Initial State: L0

 The L0 can be modified. But, the possible
modifications are highly regulated.
 L0 is modified with the exposure to the target
Language.
 L1, L2, L3…. are modifiable states; they correspond to
different natural languages.
 A natural language is an instantiation of one such
modifiable states of L0

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 17

 Principles and Parameters
The set of initial properties available to the L 0
is called the set of principles.
 The set of variations possible within the
principles are called parameters, which allow
the languages to be different from one another.
 This approach in generative grammar is called
the ‘Principles and Parameters’ (PP) approach.

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 18

 Adequacies

 To account for a particular language the grammar

has to meet ‘Descriptive Adequacy’.

To account for the L0, the Universal Grammar

(UG), the grammar has to meet ‘Explanatory
Adequacy’.

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 19

 The Architecture
 The Faculty of Language (FL) interfaces with two other
systems; they are:
 Sensory Motor (Articulatory-Perceptual) system
it is expressed by the Phonetic Form (PF)
 Systems of thought (Conceptual-Intentional system)
It is expressed by the Logical Form (LF)
FL
 
PF LF

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 20

 FL should be Legible to Other Systems

 For FL to be usable by the PF and LF interface

systems, it should be legible to them

 Language is an optimal solution to legibility

conditions. (Chomsky, 2002)

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 21

 What principles are available to
the Faculty of Language?
 A possible Principle:
The Structure Dependency
Language shows a hierarchical structural
organisation.
So an underlying structures has to be assumed
behind the linear sequence of elements.

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 22

 Thank you

Dr. Bibhuti Mahapatra, KReSIT, IIT Bombay Introduction to Linguistics 23