English Linguistics for TESOL

101825
AUT 2014
Lecture 1

Adrian Hale
a.hale@uws.edu.au

Linguistic
Knowledge

English Linguistics for TESOL

101825
AUT 2014 UWS
Lecture 1

Native speakers of a language have innate knowledge about its:

Sound System: which consonants & vowels are possible, how they
combine

Lexicon: words: sounds + meanings

Parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, coordinators, etc.
Morphology: plural/singular markers, past/present markers and affixes that
change part of speech/meaning

Syntax: the internal grammatical structure of sentences

Semantics: relationships between elements and their interpretation; or
context-free meaning.

Pragmatics: what to say when; how to say it appropriately; or contextbased meaning.

Spot the clues: innate problem solving and traces

English Linguistics for TESOL

101825
AUT 2014 UWS
Lecture 1

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre

and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome
raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that
catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!
He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he
sought So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in
thought. And as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes
of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it
came!
One, two! One, two! and through and through The vorpal blade went
snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing
back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish
boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" He chortled in his joy.
Lewis Carroll Jabberwocky (1871)

What is Language?

English Linguistics for TESOL

101825
AUT 2014 UWS
Lecture 1

having and using language is usually taken for

grantedSpeaking is such a normal and
everyday process for us that most of the time
we do not consciously think about what we are
doing. Plag et al (2007: xi, 1).

What is Linguistics?

It studies the link

between thought
processes and
communication.

Linguistics is the scientific study of language.

Language, not how to learn languages.
Language is a uniquely human attribute.
An empirical science, based on:
evidence from language in use
(observation)
data drawn from many different languages
a theoretical enterprise
hypotheses made, tested, refined.

Domains of Linguistic enquiry:

English Linguistics for TESOL

101825
AUT 2014 UWS
Lecture 1

Linguistics investigates language structure, processing, function,

and representation at several different levels, including:
phonetics & phonology: how sounds are produced, perceived, combined, and
represented
morphology: structure of words
syntax: structure of the lexicon, phrases and sentences
semantics & pragmatics: encoding and interpretation of meaning in language
psycholinguistics: cognitive representations and mental processes of language
first and second language acquisition
linguistic typology: how languages differ; what they have in common
historical linguistics: how languages change over time; how they are related
sociolinguistics & linguistic
anthropology: the role and use of
language in social contexts
biological & evolutionary linguistics:
biological foundations and origins of
language
interactional sociolinguistics, discourse
analysis, corpus linguistics,
suprasegmentation and tone perception..

What makes Human

Language unique?
Creative
Not stimulus based
Abstract and concrete
Universal Grammar
Complex systems
Arbitrary and Conventional
Reflection
Discoverable patterns,
constraints and relatability.
Infinite combinations
potentiality
Language is more than speech
Fromkin et al (2009: 17-24); Kuiper & Allan (2004: 8-9).

English Linguistics for TESOL

101825
AUT 2014 UWS
Lecture 1

The study of linguistics thus

offers:

A systematic application of
scientific, analytical method,
Discoverable knowledge
systems,
Understanding useful for
teaching (incl. TESOL),
A disciplined, rational
approach to dealing with
complex data,
Knowledge of human
diversity,
Education in ways which
help overcome cultural
barriers.

Orthography.
Originally the
correct spelling
of Language. Now,
it means the
writing system.

English Linguistics for TESOL

101825
AUT 2014 UWS
Lecture 1

All normal human beings speak at least

one language.
Most humans throughout history have
been illiterate.
Writing is technology, transmitted across
cultures.
Writing is a representation of, and
approximation to language.
English especially is poorly represented by
its orthography.
The primacy of speech (we are not
studying written language).
Proctor (2013).

A Descriptive Discipline:

English Linguistics for TESOL

101825
AUT 2014 UWS
Lecture 1

the goal of linguistics is to describe language

not to prescribe how language should be used. To record the rules of language in
response to actual language usage.

The Prescriptive approach to language. : To set the rules of language in

advance of actual language usage.
Language academies (Acadmie franaise; Rat fr deutsche Rechtschreibung; Speak
Mandarin Campaign )
Traditional grammars & dictionaries (Webster)
style guides (Fowlers English Usage; Strunk & White: Elements of Style; Truss: Eats
Shoots & Leaves)
Newspaper opinion columns:
Folk Linguistics:

Prescriptive Rules:
Never start a sentence with a conjunction. But sometimes its
OK.
Never use that to introduce a relative clause. Which is why a
subordinator is used in the wrong way.
To forever split the infinitive really annoys some people.
To end a sentence with a preposition is something that should
be done away with.
Using the first person object pronoun is uncommon for you and
I.

English Linguistics for TESOL

101825
AUT 2014 UWS
Lecture 1

So, why do revered authors in English break

the rules?
-Wuthering Heights (Bronte)
-A Christmas Carol (Dickens)
-Alice in Wonderland (Carroll)
-Dracula (Stoker)
-Lord Jim (Conrad)
-Shakespeare
-Moby Dick (Melville)

A few facts about Language:

Knowledge of the sound system:
We know what sounds or signs are part of the language and
what are not.
We possess an Unconscious knowledge of which sounds belong to
which languages
More than simply an inventory of sounds
Knowing where sounds occur, how they relate to other sounds,
starting or ending a word
Sounds and sound patterns

English Linguistics for TESOL

101825
AUT 2014 UWS
Lecture 1

Knowledge of words:
Knowing that specific sequences of sounds signify certain concepts or
meanings
600,000 words in OED: 100,000 in Macquarie D; 1 million + in English.
Personal inventory or vocabulary much less, finite.
Arbitrary relation between form (sounds) and meaning (concept)
Has to be learnt
accepted rules form conventionality
miming, gestures, signals typically non-arbitrary
Sound symbolism eg. Onomatopoeia:
Buzz, smack, bark, chirp.

Creativity:

English Linguistics for TESOL

Chomsky: brain hard-wired for language capacity

101825
AUT 2014 UWS
Behaviourist: language is a set of learned responses to stimuli.
Lecture 1
Doesnt allow for reflex and involuntary reactions
Knowing a language involves knowing appropriate responses for each situation
Creativity beyond our ability to speak, but also to generate and understand new or
novel sentences, when you have never experienced it before
Ability to generate infinitely long sentences

Knowledge of sentences and non-sentences:

We know which strings of words constituting sentences are well-formed or not
Very long sentences are improbable
An example of the difference between linguistic competence and linguistic
performance
Affected by physiological or psychological barriers: tiredness, boredom, memory
loss, stuttering, stammering, slips of the tongue, etc
Linguistic knowledge is mostly unconscious knowledge, representative of a
complex cognitive system
There could be other factors such as culture, gender, age, identity

Language and thought:

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: language structures determine external
perception (linguistic determinism)
Linguistic relativism: categories encoded within language influence
comparisons and ways of thinking
Languages show linguistic distinctions in their lexicons and
grammar- as to how much this influences thought and perception is
not clear
Examples: colour, identity, gender, age, political correctness, spin,
euphemisms, dysphemisms etc

English Linguistics for TESOL

101825
AUT 2014 UWS
Lecture 1

Summary:

English Linguistics for TESOL

101825
AUT 2014 UWS
Lecture 1

1. Wherever humans exist, language exists

2. No primitive languages: all equally complex, capable of expression, vocabulary
is expandable
3. All languages change through time
4. Most relationships between signs and meanings/sounds are arbitrary
5. All languages are finite for sounds/gestures which can be combined into an
infinite set of possible sentences
6. All grammars have similar rules for the formation of words and sentences
7. Each language has discrete sound segments, with finite properties for sound,
with vowels and consonants
8. Word classes are found in each language: nouns, verbs etc.
9. Universal semantic properties such as entailment exist
10. Each language can negate, ask questions, issue commands, refer to past,
future etc
11. Each language can form infinite sentences, and form versions of the same
referentiality/propositional content (passive, active voice, etc.)
12. The ability to acquire, use and know language is universal, based on a
biologically ability of the brain, as applied to modalities (spoken, signed)
13. Any normal child can acquire any language when exposed to it