Chapter 12Theories & Schools

of Modern Linguistics

Functionalism Formalism

0. Contribution of Ferdinand de Saussure

“ Father of modern linguistics” Course in General Linguistics, in

1916 This book became the most

important source of Saussure’s ideas and of his influence upon succeeding generations of linguists.

His influence He provided a general orientation of

the task of linguistics. He influenced modern linguistics in

the specific concepts Arbitrary nature of the sign Langue vs. parole Synchrony vs. diachrony Syntagmatic relation vs. paradigmatic

relation

Saussure believed that L is A SYSTEM OF SIGNS. The sign is the union of a form and an idea, which Saussure called the SIGNIFIER and the SIGNIFIED. The relation between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary and conventional.

Langue & parole

Saussure distinguished the linguistic competence of the speaker and the actual phenomena or data of linguistics (utterances) as langue and parole. Langue is relative stable and systematic, parole is

subject to personal and situational constraints; langue is not spoken by an individual, parole is always a naturally occurring event. What a linguist should do, according to Saussure, is to draw rules from a mass of confused facts, i.e. to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole and make them the subject of linguistics.

More about langue and parole

For Saussure, langue is stable and invariable while parole is unstable and variable. By designing and building models of langue, one is not principally concerned with actual systems of parole, or what people actually say or what appears on the page, but the structures of a system that gives the potential

for the words or utterances to exist. This principle is the key to understanding

structuralism

A synchronic description takes a fixed instant (usually, but not necessarily, the present) as its point of observation. Most grammars are of this kind.

Diachronic linguistics is the study of a language through the course of its history.

SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONS: the relationship that linguistic units (e.g. words, clauses) have with other units in a sequence. For example, a word may be said to have syntagmatic relations with the other words which occur in the same sentence, but PARADIGMATIC RELATIONS with the words that could substitute for it in the sentence.

For example:I gave Tracy the

book.

Passed

Handed

Threw

=syntagmatic relations

=Paradigmatic relations

1. The Prague School

Prague Linguistic Circle: Started by V. Mathesius in 1926,

with Jacobson, Trubetzkoy and Firbas

The Circle stood at the heart of important developments in structural linguistics and semiotics in the 1930's.

1.1 The Prague School

Three important points: SYNCHRONIC study of L is stressed for

it can draw on complete and controllable material for investigation.

L is SYSTEMIC in that no element of L can be satisfactorily analyzed or evaluated in isolation and assessment can only be made if its relationship is established with the coexisting elements in the same language system.

L is FUNCTIONAL in that it is a tool for performing a number of essential functions or tasks for the community using it.

1.2 Prague School: Phonology N. Trubetzkoy: Principle

of Phonology (1939). Phonetics vs. phonology:

parole vs. langue. Phoneme: an abstract

unit of the sound system; to distinguish meaning

Classifying distinctive features: phonological oppositions.

Trubetzkoy’s contributions Showed distinctive functions of

speech sounds and gave an accurate definition of the phoneme.

Defined the sphere of phonological studies be making the distinction between phonetics and phonology.

Revealed interdependent relations between phonemes by studying the syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations between phonemes.

Put forward a set of methodologies for phonological studies.

1.3 Functional Sentence Perspective

FSP is a theory of linguistic analysis which refers to an analysis of utterances in terms of the information they contain. The principle is that the role of each utterance part is evaluated for its semantic contribution to the whole. A functional point of view

A sentence contains a point of departure and a goal of discourse. The point of departure, called the theme, is the ground on which the speaker and the hearer meet.

The goal of discourse, called the rheme, presents the very information that is to be imparted to the hearer. Movement from theme to rheme

reveals the movement of the mind itself.

Therefore, the functional sentence perspective (FSP) aims to describe how information is distributed in sentences.

It deals particularly with the effect of the distribution of known (given) info and new info in discourse. Sally stands on the table.

Theme Rheme On the table stands Sally.

Theme Rheme

Communicative dynamism (CD) J. Firbas Linguistic communication

is dynamic, not static. CD measures the amount

of info an element carries in a sentence. The degree of CD is the effect contributed by a linguistic element, for it pushes the communication forwards. For example,

He was cross. CD: The lowest

degree of CD is carried by he, and the highest degree of CD is carried by cross, with the degree carried by was ranking between them.

Normally the subject carries a lower degree of CD than the verb and/or the object and/or adverbial provided either the verb or the object and/or adverbial are contextually independent. This is because a known or unknown

agent expressed by the subject appears to be communicatively less important than an unknown action expressed by the finite verb and/or an unknown goal (object or adverbial of place) at or towards which the action is directed.

For example, A man broke into the

house and stole all the money.

The ultimate purpose of the communication is to state the action and/or its goal, not the agent.

However, if the subject is followed by a verb expressing “existence or appearance on the scene” and is contextually independent, then it will carry the highest degree of CD, because an unknown person or thing appearing on the scene is communicatively more important than the act of appearing and the scene itself, e.g. An old man appeared in the waiting room at

five o’clock.

If the subject is contextually dependent, a contextually independent adverbial of time or place becomes an important local and temporal specification, carrying greater degree of CD than both the subject and the finite verb, as in

The old man was sitting in the waiting room.

CD is both related to the semantic contents and the linear arrangement of the elements. Compare: He went to Prague to see his friend. In order to see his friend, he went

to Prague.

He gave a boy an apple. He gave an apple to a boy.

Three levels of a sentence

Grammatical Sentence Pattern (GSP) Semantic Sentence Pattern (SSP) Communicative Sentence Pattern (CSP)

John has written a novel.Subject Verb Object (GSP)Agent Action Goal (SSP)Theme Transition Rheme (CSP)

2 The London School B. Malinowski (1884-1942),

professor of anthropology (1927).

J. R. Firth (1890-1960), the first professor of linguistics in the UK (1944).

M. A. K. Halliday (1925- ), student of Firth.

All three stressed the importance of context of situation and the system aspect of L.

London school is also known as systemic linguistics and functional linguistics.

2.1 Malinowski’s theories Paved the way for a

cultural, contextual study of L in Britain. Language “is to be

regarded as a mode of action, rather than as a counterpart of thought”.

The meaning of an utterance comes from its relation to the situational context in which it occurs.

The real linguistic data are the complete utterances in actual uses of L.

Three types of situational context: situations in which speech

interrelates with bodily activity; narrative situations;

The situation of the moment of narration

The situation referred to by the narrative

situations in which speech is used to fill a speech vacuum—phatic communion.

2.2 Firth’s theories

About L: L is a social process, a means of social life. In order to live, human

beings have to learn and learning L is a means of participation in social activities.

L is a means of doing things and of making others do things, a means of acting and living.

Firth did not fully agree with Saussure on the distinction of langue and parole. L is not a set of conventional semiotics

and signs. The objects of linguistic study is L in

use. The goal of linguistic enquiry is to

analyse meaningful elements of L in order to establish corresponding relations between linguistic and non-linguistic elements.

Firth held that meaning is use, thus defining meaning as the relationship between an element at any level and its context on that level. The meaning of any sentence can be analyzed on five levels: (1) phonological, (2) lexical and semantic, (3) morphological, (4) syntactic, and (5) context of situation.

(1) Meaning and context of situation

Firth expanded Malinowski’s ideas of context of situation.

He defined the context of situation as including the entire cultural setting of speech and the personal history of the participants rather than as simply the context of human activity going on at the moment.

Recognizing that context is infinitely various, he used the notion of typical context of situation so that some generalizations can be made about it.

By a TYPICAL CONTEXT OF SITUATION, he meant that social situations determine the social roles participants are obliged to play; since the total number of typical contexts of situation they will encounter is finite, the total number of social roles is also finite.

For this reason, he said “conversation is much more of a roughly prescribed ritual than most people think. once someone speaks to you, you are in a relatively determined context and you are not free just to say what you please.”

In analysing typical context of situation, one has to take into consideration both the situational context and linguistic context:Internal relations of the text: syntagmatic relations in structure paradigmatic relations in system

Internal relations of the context of situation: relations between text and non-linguistic

elements analytical relations between elements of

the text and elements within the situation

He also proposed a model covering both the situational context and the linguistic context of a text1. The relevant features of the

participants: persons, personalities.2. The relevant topics, including

objects, events, and non-linguistic, non-human events.

3. The effects of the verbal action.

Since any human utterance is continuous speech flow made up of at least one syllable, it cannot be cut into independent units. Mere phonetic and phonological descriptions are insufficient. For example, to describe key Phonetically: voiceless, velar, stop Phonologically: two phonemes /k/ and /i:/,

/kjh/ (palatalized, aspirated) Prosodically: h (h aspirated ki: both

phonemes)

(2) Prosodic analysis: prosodic phonology

It is not phonemes that make up the paradigmatic relations, but Phonematic Units.

There are fewer features in phonematic units than in phonemes, because some features are common to phonemes of a syllable or a phrase (even a sentence).

When these common features are considered in syntagmatic relations, they are called prosodic units.Phonematic units=phoneme-common features

(prosodic features)

He did not define prosodic units, but his discussion indicates that they include such features as stress, length, nasalisation, palatalisation, and aspiration.

Prosodic analysis and phonemic analysis both consider basically the same phonological facts. However, prosodic analysis is advantageous in categorizing data and revealing the relations between linguistic data. It can discover units on various

levels and attempts to explicate the interrelationships between units on these levels.

2.3 Systemic-functional grammar

M A K Halliday (1925- ).

Two components and inseparable parts: systemic grammar:

internal relations in L as a system network

functional grammar: L as a means of social interaction, functions of language form

What is systemic-functional grammar? p.307 In what aspects is systemic grammar

different from other linguistic theories? pp.307-308 System: a set of choices available in a

L. there are many systems in every L. the whole L is conceived as a “system of systems”. Some of the systems in English are number, person, mood, gender, tense, transitivity, etc.

We make choices along the SCALE OF DELICACY and gradually make finer and finer distinctions in meaning.

Systemic grammar

finite…clause

nonfinite…nominal-group…

group adjectival-adverbial-group…

prep-phrase…word …

Functional grammar

Ideational function (experiential & logical): to convey new info, communicate a content unknown to the hearer

Interpersonal function: to express social and personal relations

Textual function: to make any stretch of spoken or written discourse into a coherent and unified text and make a living passage different from a random list of sentences.

Realization of each meta-function: The ideational function mainly

consists of “transitivity” and “voice”

The interpersonal function is realized by mood and modality

The textual function is realized through cohesion, theme/rheme, stress, etc.

3. American structuralismBoas’ contribution to American

linguistics The organizer of the survey of many

indigenous American Indian L. There were no ideal type of L, for human

L is diverse. He proved that the structure and form

of a L has nothing to do with the evolution of a race and the development of its culture.

He discussed the framework of descriptive linguistics.

Three parts: the sound, the semantic categories of linguistic expression, and the process of grammatical combination in semantic expression.

The task is to discover the particular grammatical structure and to develop descriptive categories appropriate to it.

Analytic method rather than comparing in processing data

His theory, observation and descriptive method paved the way for American descriptive linguistics and influenced generations of linguists.

Sapir’s contributions Defined L as “a purely human and

noninstinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols”.

L is the means, thought is the product; without L, thought is impossible.

Noticed the universal features of L.

Bloomfield a landmark figure in the history

of American linguistics; started American structuralism as a school of thought

Bloomfield’ theory

L is a branch of psycholinguistics, esp. of Behaviorism Learning and using L is a process of

stimulus-response. Three principles (pp.320-321) S r……………………..s R

He applied linguistics to L teaching. Learning a L involves constant practice

and repetition in real situations rather than merely teaching grammatical rules.

We learn a L rather than learn about a L.

Post-Bloomfieldian linguistics Further developed structuralism which

is characterized by a strict empiricism. Focused on direct observation. Harris: discovery procedure approach,

accurate analytical procedure and high degree of formalization

Hockett: defended structuralist views of L

Pike: Tagmemics Lamb: stratificational analysis

Summary of American structuralism

pp.325-326

4. Generative Grammar

NOAM CHOMSKY (1928- ), institute professor at MIT. Linguist, philosopher, and political activist.

4.1 Innateness hypothesis

Language acquisition device (LAD)

Universal grammar (UG) Three components of LAD

Hypothesis-maker Linguistic universal Evaluation procedure

Anti-behaviorism, and anti-empiricism

4.2 what is generative grammar? Pp.327-328. Three levels to evaluate grammars

on: Observational adequacy Descriptive adequacy Explanatory adequacy

Hypothesis-Deduction method

4.3 the classical theory Three kinds of grammar

Finite state grammar Phrase structure grammar Transformational grammar

Three features Emphasis on generative ability of L Introduction of transformational

rules Grammatical description regardless

of meaning.

Phrase structure rules

Consists of phrase-structure rules that formalize some of the traditional insights of constituent structure analysis. The rules are as follows: S NP VP VP V NP NP Det N V act, beat, catch, dive, … N man, boy, book, flower, ...

Transformational rules

NP1 + Aux + V + NP2 John + will + write + a story

NP2 + Aux + be + en + V + by + NP1

a story + will + be + en + write + by + John

4.4 The standard theory (1965)• Problems with the classical theory

the TR are not universally applicable. The TR should not change the meaning of the original sentence, and the noun must be restricted by the verb.

• Including a semantic component in a three-component grammar

4.4 The standard theory (1965)

Improvement on the classical theory Only allowed to change the forms

not the meaning. Selectional restrictions to limit the

nouns Restrictions on transformations Adding the symbol S on the right of

the arrow to allow sentenced to be embedded.

Rules are ordered.

4.5 Extended standard theory Problems with standard theory

TR are too powerful Difficult to generalize the relations

between derived nouns and their corresponding verbs

Impossible for semantic interpretation intact from DS to SS

Cannot explain some gapped structures

Restrictions needed for TR

4.6 Later theories

Government and Binding Theory X-bar theory Government theory Binding theory Case theory -theory Bounding theory Control theory

Main features of TG

L as a set of rules The aim of linguistic study is to

produce generative grammar to capture learners’ L competence

Using intuition to choose data Methodology is hypothesis-deductive Rationalism & mentalism

The minimalist program The development of TG Major features of TG grammar p. 338.

Case grammar (pp. 339-40.) Generative semantics (pp.340-42)