Chapter 1 What is Language? When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call...

ChapterChapter 1 1 What is Language?What is Language?

• When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call the "human essence,” the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man.

- Noam Chomsky, Language and Mind -

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With Noam Chomsky (2010 GLOW ASIA VIII, in Beijing)

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LSA Special Lecture, MIT

Avram Noam Chomsky(1928.12.07 ~ )

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania9

Dr. William Chomsky

• 1913 제정러시아 징병 도피 , 미국이민• 세계적 Hebrew 문법학자• 1952 David Kimhi’s Hebrew Grammar• 1957 Hebrew, the Eternal Language• 1924-1969 Gratz College, 1977 작고• ( 다른 친척들 : 이스라엘 집단농장 Kibbutz 노동자 계급 )

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Noam Chomsky

• 1945 (16 세 ) Upenn, Zellig Harris (1909 – 1992) 의 제자

• 1947 Carol Doris Schatz 와 date, married in 1949 (20)

• 1949 B.A. Morphohonemics of Modern Hebrews

• 1951 M.A.

• 1951 Avukah (‘Torch’ in Hebrew): Harris 가 이끄는 유태계 미국인 단체에 가담

Harvard Fellowship ( 연구원 )

• 1953 이스라엘 집단농장에서 가난한 노동자로 6 주

• 1955 (26) Ph.D. from UPenn, MIT 조교수

(The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory, 1975)

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• 1957 had their first child Syntactic Structures. The Hague: Mouton. (review by Lees, in Language)

• 1958 (28) National Science Foundation 연구원 , MIT 부교수• 1959 The Sound Pattern of English • 1962(33) Professor at MIT ( 외국어 및 언어학 ) 국제언어학대회에서 변형생성문법을 소개함 . (Transformational Generative Grammar)• 1965 (35) Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. MIT Press.

(Standard Theory)• 1981. Lectures on Government and Binding. Dortrecht: Foris.

(GB Theory: 지배결속이론 )• 1995. The Minimalist Program. MIT Press. ( 최소주의이론 )12

Preface

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Innovative Approach

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What is Language and How do we study it?

Key Concepts:• Human language has numerous features that

distinguish it from other communication systems.• People have unconscious knowledge of language and

use this knowledge to speak and understand language.

• All languages have grammar, a system of phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic rules.

• A language is really a continuum of language varieties that change over space and time.

• Children are hardwired to acquire a linguistic rule system, and they do so while very young, without direct teaching.

• All languages have the same basic framework: Universal Grammar

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Have you ever wondered

• Does my dog really understand what I’m saying?

• Is sign language different from body language?

• Why do some people say “ahnt” rather than “ant” for aunt?

• Where did English come from, and is it really related to Latin?

• Why do the words Yeats and Keats sound different when they’re spelled almost the same?

• Do people who are bilingual ever mix up their languages?

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Do you agree with any or all of the following opinions?

• French sounds more romantic than German.

• The sentence I don’t know nothing is sloppy English.

• Some languages are more primitive than others.

• People who say aks instead of ask are being lazy.

• We are taught language by our parents and teachers.

• Writing is more perfect than speech.

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Human Language vs.

other communication systems

The features that distinguish Human Language

from other communication systems:

• Acquiring vs. Learning a Language

• Semanticity

• Arbitrariness

• Discreteness

• Displacement

• Productivity

• Duality of patterning

• Duality

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Universal Grammar vs.

Linguistic Parameters

All languages share these universal principles:

• They all have subjects and predicates.

• They all have nouns and verbs.

• They all have a subset of sounds.

• They all have similar ways of categorizing meaning distinctions.

Basic universal principles can be defined more accurately as

linguistic parameters. We can think of a parameter as a

metaphorical on/off switch.

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The Scientific Study of Language

• We all have unconscious knowledge of a linguistic rule system.

• Languages exist independent of writing systems.

• All languages have the same expressive power.

• All children acquire language if exposed to it (without instruction).

• All languages change over time (no matter how hard we try to stop that change).

• A language is really a continuum of language varieties.

• All languages have a common set of basic grammatical properties (Universal Grammar), and some may be parameterized.

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What is Grammar?

a. The Components of Grammar

- Phonetics

- Phonology

- Morphology

- Syntax

- Semantics

b. Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Grammar

c. Universal Grammar

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