An Introduction to

Language
Definitions
 What is language?
 Study of language
 What is linguistics?
 tool for communication
 tool for self-expression
 self of rules
Linguistic Knowledge
 What do we know when we know language?

① sounds
② sound patterns
③ words
④ sentences
⑤ And a lot more, e.g. linguistic appropriateness
 What do we know about the sounds, the words and the sentences in a
language?
 Meaning & pronunciation & arbitrary & grammartical
Linguistic Knowledge
 What else do we know about language?

1. You know which sequences of sounds have specific

meanings and which do not.
2. Knowing a language means being able to produce and
understand new sentences never spoken before.
3. It permits us to distinguish grammatical from ungrammatical
sentences.

the major fields of linguistic studies

Competence vs. Performance
 What is linguistic competence?

What you know when you know a language

= linguistic knowledge
= grammar
 What is linguistic performance?

How you use language

Competence vs. Performance
 How may our lc competence differ from our lc
performance?
You have the competence to produce a million-word
sentence but performance limitations such as memory
and endurance keep this from occurring.
Grammar
 Narrow sense = syntax (i.e. sentence grammar)
 Broad sense = linguistic competence = system rules =
linguistic theory
Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Grammar
 What is a descriptive grammar?

Describe native speakers’ linguistic competence

 What is a prescriptive grammar?

Tells speakers how they should say~

Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Grammar
 How may a descriptive G differ from a prescriptive G?
 Prescriptive:

Never end a sentence with a preposition

Never split an infinitive
 Descriptive:

Some English speakers end a sentence with a preposition

Some English speakers split on infinitive
Language Universals
 Do languages differ a lot?

Languages can differ in many ways. They may use

different sounds, they may make words in different ways,
they may put words together to form a sentence in
different ways.
 Do languages have a lot in common?

All languages have in common is that they allow us to

all communicate with each other and all have grammar.
Do animals have “languages?”
 If not, why not?

Animals unlike children, they show little creativity or

spontaneity.
 If animals have languages, how do their languages differ from
human languages?
1. Arbitrariness
2. Discreteness/segmentation
3. Duality
4. Displacement
5. Creativity