The Linguistic Facts of Life
The Linguistic
Facts of Life
What is Language
and What Does it Do?
• Introduction
• Why study language?
• What is language?
• A system
• The potential to create new meanings
• Multiple functions
• Language diversity
• Power and society
2
The Linguistic System
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Syntax
• Morphology
• The Lexicon
• Semantics
1
The Linguistic Facts of Life
Phonetics and Phonology
Phonetics is the study of …
• Speech sounds
• How they are produced in the vocal tract
(articulatory phonetics)
• Their physical properties (acoustic
phonetics)
• How they are perceived (auditory
phonetics)
Phonetics and Phonology
Phonology is the study of …
• The sound system of a language
• How the particular sounds contrast in
each language to form an integrated
system for encoding information
• How sound systems differ from one
language to another
Phonetics
• What sounds have you heard in other
languages that are not in English?
• Exactly how do you move your
articulators to pronounce the tt sound
in butter?
• What two English sounds are often
confused when they are heard on the
telephone?
2
The Linguistic Facts of Life
Phonology
• How does the pronunciation of s differ in
“he talks” and “she snores”?
• What English sounds never occur at the
beginning of words?
• How can you say That looks interesting as
• A statement?
• A question?
• Ironically?
Morphology
Morphology is . . .
• The structure of words in a language,
including patterns of inflections and
derivation
• The study of how words are formed in a
language
Morphology
• Identify the morphemes in
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
• Which morphemes are derivational?
• Which morphemes are inflectional?
• Is this potentially an English word?
9
3
The Linguistic Facts of Life
Descriptive and Prescriptive
Grammar
• Descriptive grammar is the objective
description of a speaker’s knowledge of a
language (competence) based on their use of
the language (performance).
• Prescriptive grammar is a set of rules
designed to give instructions regarding the
“correct” or “proper” way to speak or write.
10
Descriptive or prescriptive?
• Never end a sentence with a
preposition.
• In casual styles of speaking, people
frequently end sentences with
prepositions, but this is generally
avoided in formal styles.
• Between you and me is correct;
Between you and I is ungrammatical.
11
Variation in Modern Spoken
English
• “Ain’t no way he’s • “Between you and I,
gonna.” he’s wrong.”
• “Danny gone – he be • “Coffee I can always
working down to the drink, so pour me.”
factory.” • “Meat’s so expensive
• “Whatsa matter you?” anymore that we eat a
• “He said he may can lot of macaroni.”
have these by the first • “Down the shore
of the month.” everything’s all right.”
12
4
The Linguistic Facts of Life
Variation in Modern Spoken
English
• “Those boots sure • “So she goes, like,
are fly.” no, it’s way late for
• “If you’re going out that.”
I’m coming with.” • “The data shows
• “Mr. Vincent took a that the hypothesis
heart attack.” can’t be
supported.”
• “Put it in your
pocket.”
13
English Changes Over Time
Ic þis giedd wrece bi me ful geomorre,
minre sylfre sið. Ic þæt secgan mæg,
hwæt ic yrmþa gebad, siþþan ic up weox,
niwes oþþe ealdes, no ma þonne nu.
From “The Wife’s Lament” (before 1072)
14
English Changes Over Time
1. Ic þis giedd wrece bi me ful geomorre,
I tell this poem about myself, full of sorrow
2. minre sylfre sið. Ic þæt secgan mæg,
in my own journey. I can say this,
3. hwæt ic yrmþa gebad, siþþan ic up weox,
for I miserably endured after I grew up,
4. niwes oþþe ealdes, no ma þonne nu.
new or old, never more than now.
15
5
The Linguistic Facts of Life
English Changes Over Time
• In English tonge I schal yow telle,
yif ye wyth me so longe wil dwelle.
No Latyn wil I speke no waste,
But English Þat men vse mast,
Þat can eche man vnderstande,
Þat is born in Ingelande;
For Þat langage is most chewyd
Os wel among lered os lewyd.
• Speculum Vitae, 1325
16
English Changes Over Time
• … at the lest way … speke none englisshe but
that which is cleane polite, perfectly and
articulately pronounced, omittinge no lettre
or sillable, as folisshe women often times do
of a wantonnesse, whereby diuers noble men
and gentilmennes chyldren (as I do at this
daye knowe) have attained corrupte and
foule pronunciation.
• The Boke Named the Governour, 1531
17
English Changes Over Time
• As an independent nation, our honor requires
us to have a system of our own, in language
as well as government. Great Britain, whose
children we are, and whose language we
speak, should no longer be our standard; for
the taste of her writers is already corrupted,
and her language on the decline. But if it
were not so, she is at too great a distance to
be our model, and to instruct us in the
principles of our own tongue.
- Dissertations on the English Language, 1789
18
6
The Linguistic Facts of Life
English Changes Over Time
Like, oh my god!
Like – totally
Encino is like so bitchen
There's like The Galleria
And like all these like really great shoe stores
I love going into like clothing stores and stuff
I like buy the neatest mini-skirts and stuff
It’s like so bitchen cuz like everybody's like
Super-super nice
It's like so bitchen
“Valley Girl” by Frank Zappa and Moon Unit Zappa19
(1982)
Lexical Variation in Modern
English
• Lexical change over time
• hot, like, kosher, tight, word
• Lexical variation over space
• soda vs. pop
• seesaw vs. teeter-totter
• bubbler vs. drinking fountain
• tennis shoes vs. gym shoes vs. sneakers
• Doublespeak
20
Phonological Variation
in Modern English
• The cot-caught merger
• Cot/caught, hock/hawk
• Mary, merry, marry
• The short-forty and the park the car
variables
• The walkin’ and talkin’ variable
• The coupon variable
• coupon, due, news, duke
21
7
The Linguistic Facts of Life
Syntactic Variation
in Modern English
• Multiple negation
• “We ain’t never had no trouble about none of us
pullin’ out no knife.”
• Invariant forms of ‘to be’
• “We was in an ideal place for it.”
• “Was you a majorette?”
• “There was twenty dollars in my purse when I
last looked.”
22
Why Does Your Language
Vary?
o It depends who you are.
23
The short-forty variable in
100
100 Boston
90
90
80
80
70
70
60
60
Italian
Italian
50
50 Irish
Irish
Jewish
Jewish
40
40
30
30
20
20
10
10
0
0 24
Casual
Casual Reading
Reading Formal
Formal
8
The Linguistic Facts of Life
Why does your language vary?
o It depends who you are.
25
Why does your language vary?
o It depends who you are.
o It depends what you’re doing.
26
Postvocalic (r) by gang members
in Harlem
60
60
50
50
40
40 T-Birds
T-Birds
VDC
VDC Series
Series
30
30
1390
1390 Lames
Lames
20 Aces
Aces
20
10
10
0
0
Conversation
Conversation Reading
Reading Word
Word Lists
Lists
27
9
The Linguistic Facts of Life
Why does your language vary?
o It depends who you are.
o It depends what you’re doing.
28
Why does your language vary?
o It depends who you are.
o It depends what you’re doing.
o It depends where you live.
29
Why does your language vary?
1. Listen to three samples from the
DARE Audio Collection.
2. Where do the speakers live?
3. What phonological, syntactic, and
lexical differences do you notice
between your own variety of English
and the variety used by these
speakers?
30
10
The Linguistic Facts of Life
Why does your language vary?
o It depends who you are.
o It depends what you’re doing.
o It depends where you live.
o It depends how old you are.
31
The cot-caught variable in OK
32
The cot-caught variable for older
speakers born before 1945
33
11
The Linguistic Facts of Life
The cot-caught variable for
younger speakers born after
1945
34
Why does your language vary?
o It depends who you are.
o It depends what you’re doing.
o It depends where you live.
o It depends how old you are.
35
Why does your language vary?
o It depends who you are.
o It depends what you’re doing.
o It depends where you live.
o It depends how old you are.
o It depends what social class you come from.
o It depends on your gender.
36
12
The Linguistic Facts of Life
Multiple Negation in Detroit
90
90
80
80
70
70
60
60
50
50 Male
Male
40
40 Female
Female
30
30
20
20
10
10
0
0
Upper
Upper Middle
Middle Lower
Lower Upper
Upper Lower
Lower
Middle
Middle Working
Working Working
Working
37
Why does your language vary?
o It depends who you are.
o It depends what you’re doing.
o It depends where you live.
o It depends how old you are.
o It depends what social class you come
from.
o It depends on your gender.
38
Why does your language vary?
o It depends who you are.
o It depends what you’re doing.
o It depends where you live.
o It depends how old you are.
o It depends what social class you come from.
o It depends on your gender.
o It depends what you’re talking about.
39
13
The Linguistic Facts of Life
Use of like by a Palo Alto
teenager
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
0
0
My
My Friends
Friends Other
Other People
People College
College
40
Why does your language vary?
o It depends who you are.
o It depends what you’re doing.
o It depends where you live.
o It depends how old you are.
o It depends what social class you come from.
o It depends on your gender.
o It depends what you’re talking about.
41
The Linguistic Facts of Life
1. All spoken language changes over time.
2. All spoken languages are equal in linguistic
terms.
3. Grammatical and communicative
effectiveness are distinct and independent
issues.
4. Written language and spoken language are
historically, structurally, and functionally
fundamentally different creatures.
5. Variation is intrinsic to all spoken language
at every level. 42
14
The Linguistic Facts of Life
Learning Activity
• Listen to three samples from the
DARE Audio Collection. Where do
the speakers live? What
phonological, syntactic, and lexical
differences do you notice between
your own variety of English and
the variety used by these
speakers?
43
15
