hello and welcome to the first
video session RT introduction doing this
linguistics
in the session out like to raise a very
general question
namely the question what is linguistics
what have you gotten into
well linguistics is the science
of language science that's a fancy word
for
knowledge so linguistics represents what
we
as researchers know about language well
what do we know about language linguists
like to disagree with each other but
they also agree
on a number of things and in this video
I would like to talk about seven things
that linguists agree on right it start
first thing that thing was agree on is
that language is uniquely human
you could say its what makes us human
soul
only humans haven't and all humans have
it
every child learns language Spurs no
with serious sicknesses and
malformations
there maybe the occasional exception but
otherwise
every child learns language also
every human society every human culture
uses language
for communication there are no cultures
in which people go me Tarzan you Jane
doesn't happen
every human society has what you might
call
complex fully developed language on
these languages are very different from
one another
the differ extremely but then again
they have certain features in common so
for instance
all languages have words that
you might call pronouns things like I
and you written on
another thing that makes language
uniquely human is that there are certain
parts of the human brain
that handle languages are responsible
for the processing and production
of language how do we know that well
mainly from stroke patients from
another those unlucky people whether
parts of their brain
a being damaged and
in these people sometimes language
aspects of language breakdown
selectively some prices
language still work properly others not
so much
okay on eaten
the last point and really the main point
is that
human language differs from animal
communication system the next video that
are I'll be doing will contrast
human language and different animal
communication systems
and with this in mind I would like you
to meet
Alex the parents areas
okay let's watch this tracks iraq
to it strikes me how many how many
how many your West
track what's different that's right
Makar bigger carmaker huh okay
so Alex can do quite remarkable things
he can't distinguish different colors
he can count he can determine
which one of the two keys is bigger and
you can express all that
in English quite remarkable nonetheless
I'd like to argue that this is genuine
the
and qualitatively different from
language that's a a I'm two-year-old
is using okay their qualitative
differences
and we will talk about these in the next
session moving on
to the second thing that linguists agree
on let us agree that language
is a system of regularities system of
rules
on every language has a system for
constructing
things like syllables words
in sentences you can just string
words together you can just string
sounds together
in anyway you fancy every language
wreck you has a certain regularities
with regard to this
and these regularities you might call
the grammar
of the language grammar so tactically
speaking
the way in which you form a proper
sentence the way in which you
string words together to form phrases
and sentences
but also the way in which you can form
new words
and the way in which II you construct
syllables knowing the language that
means
that you know these rules
not that you've never taught these fools
okay you learn them
inductively through the process of
language acquisition
and even though you may have learned
some of these rules
in schools as prescriptive rules on
really the knowledge that you need to
talk
is subconscious don't have
to have explicit knowledge of Swat a
preposition is
sup the complement clause relative
clause
all authors we expert knowledge the most
you need to talk
is subconscious with the curious
affected
quite often you can't really explain
what you know
you can't really explain why does this
sound better in English
than this okay on young children for
instance
at quite young age they use relative
clauses
but many adult speakers cannot define
what a relative clauses
so go to beach pedia check out relative
clauses
I'm linguists then try to figure out
want these subconscious rules are let me
give you one example of a subconscious
rule
I'm is afsane the same stuff some
year we have a picture love a blue
thing and let me tell you it's a WoG
now there's another one there are two of
them there are two
what's right exactly on
moving on this is a Gulch now there's
another one
there to them there are two captures
right touches and this is in is
now there's another one there to them
to news's yeah
he said and there's a Heath a
if we have another one have to
heaps right
that's probably the case that just a
minute ago
you hadn't heard the words ouaga
chief are got church but still
you know something about them you know
how to form the word that signifies
two worlds to Chiefs and two catches
and you will notice that some well
with god she is you formed floral
in a way that you say is at the end of
God Church
with he fucks hugh produce what's called
voiceless s keeps
sort of hissing noise and with wats
you produce the voiced as a softer
gentler sound wats alright
and you did that because
you have internalized rule irregularity
of English which concerns
how words sound differently
are pluralist
moving on to a third point of agreement
between linguists all
linguists agree that language is
creative
the regularities that we have the
elements that we have the
words sounds I'm they are
finite their only son so many of them
but with
these rules and with the elements you
can create
and infinite number of new expressions
the sample that's usually given us know
take the first
book that um you see
in your room wherever you are on the bus
um while on the bus you might not see a
book
but you might see something else it's
written no point your finger
a to the first sentence that comes
across
you hands-on no check it out and
chances are that the sentence you've
never encountered before
okay on the bus that's less likely but
still take the book
take them so on this means that language
enables you to say and think things that
you have never
heard before or never thought before
yeah
so languages the tool that has an
infinite
set of possibilities from a finite
sets of rules and elements
let me give your an example of really
really creative language use
on this is an excerpt from the famous
poem that the Jabberwocky
I'll read it to you these first
stands this year twice but league and
the slightly toasted Cairo and gimble in
the way
all mimsy where the borough goes and the
mom your app's
out great people beware the Jabberwock
my son the jaws that bite
the claws that catch be where the Java
bird and shun
the through me as Bandersnatch
guy was crazy but
poems catechal yeah and what makes it
cool
um from the perspective of linguist is
that there are
words in there that are complete
nonsense like not that they're not
proper words but nonetheless nonetheless
you can say something about them for
instance
on take the second line on
so the slightly toasted geyer & Gamble
in the way but
dire & Gamble you will recognize
are are meant to be verbs and you can
owe their verbs and
maybe you can even form a mental image
of what it was that the
a slight details were doing there were
there sort of guy ring and gambling
on in the way the I don't know what way
does
but I know it's a noun and that's quite
amazing
so I'm here of course
it's the context that lets you know I'm
Diane Campbell ivers and way
years meant to be enough
okay creative language use
a fourth point that is going to be
important
in the second part of the course mostly
on is that language is social
written
well language being used for
communication sort of obvious that
there's a social dimension
to language but of course there's
also something that's maybe less less
trivial about this
statement that language social every
language
varies according to region
where you are speaker identity who you
are
and the situation who you with
okay so nobody talks the same
all the time everybody has a certain
repertoire
and talks differently in different
situations so the same person
speaks differently to their parents
to their friends to their kids
to someone from Spain yeah
you get the picture some
this may strike you as little trivial
but really it
runs deep it's a deep issue are because
language defines communities
the way I talk to someone else
says something about our relationship
our mutual relationship
and a language shapes identity
okay I'm and
different language for righties carry
prestige
or stigma
it's not nice to just passed judgment
a but we can certainly do okay if
someone talks in a way that we can stand
we can stand that person yeah someone
talks in a way that I don't like
I don't like anything else about that
person
okay I'm
yeah
is one thing that at like 2 show you
this is Joshua pinks
an xong have a little
sound bites of Jar Jar Binks talking
Chris I'm
she's honor
jacks her on
yeah %ah
stock okay I am
John jumpings you will notice talks in a
way that differs from the speech
of quick on Jen the jet I
master that you know that the country in
the submarine and trying to escape from
a big monster
I think it's episode for
yeah so and I don't think we should in
here and click on Jan
in a distinguished British accent says
relax
Wilson trouble yet and charger
replies in in his accent is yet much
does not care
and so on and so forth okay we can
speculate as to
why a respected jet I mastered
talks in a distinguished British voice
and a funny
character that brings about comic relief
is talking in a pseudo creole
don't just taken accents
but fact remains thes