July 26, 2017

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 How many languages are there in the world?
 According to Ethnologue’s database there are
6,809 (2000); 6,909(2009) there are about
7,099 (2017) languages.
 What is the origin of language? When and
where did different languages emerge?
 General belief: Bable tower
 Professional linguists: languages result from
natural change over time
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 The same questions have been asked about
language over the centuries:
 What are the elements of language and how are
they structured into words, sentences, and
discourse?
 What enables speakers to produce and
understand sentences they have never heard
before?
 How does language develop?
 What enables young children to learn a language
so efficiently?

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 Language: an arbitrary vocal system used by
human beings to communicate with one
another.
 Language is considered arbitrary, i.e. there is
no direct relationship between the sign and
the meaning.
 Nonarbitrary examples: smoke-fire, smell-
burning rice.

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 What is linguistics?
 A systematic investigation into human
languages (its structures and uses and the
relationship between them)

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 Phonetics: the study of the sounds made in the production
of human language.
 Phonology: the study of sound patterns
 Morphology: the study of word formation
 Syntax: the study of sentence formation
 Semantics: the study of meaning of words, phrases and
sentences
 Sociolinguistics
 Pragmatics: the study of context and interpretation of
words, phrases, and sentences
 Historical linguistics: The study of language change over
time
 Applied linguistics: educational, clinical, forensic,
language policy