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Language and Linguistics

Language and Linguistics. Linguistics: The scientific study of human language, broadly construed How is language structured? How do people use language? Psycholinguistics Sociolinguistics How does language change over time Historical linguistics. Plan for this unit

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Language and Linguistics

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  1. Languageand Linguistics • Linguistics: The scientific study of human language, broadly construed • How is language structured? • How do people use language? • Psycholinguistics • Sociolinguistics • How does language change over time • Historical linguistics

  2. Plan for this unit • What makes human language unique? • What are the basic components of language? • Language acquisition (the central issue in all of cognitive science) • Language in other species? • Language in machines? (Bridge to AI) • Anything else I feel like talking about

  3. The Waggle Dance • Von Frisch (1967) • Worker honeybee communicates to others location of food source • Straight run indicates direction • Waggle and buzzing indicates distance

  4. Unique Properties of Human Language • Displacement • Ability to communicate about stuff displaced in time, space, reality, etc… • Semanticity • Language can be used to convey virtually any meaning, not simply those necessary for survival • Generativity • Infinite number of sentences from finite set of words and set of rules used to combine those words

  5. Components of Human Language • Phonology: The sounds of the language, phonemes • Morphology: Smallest units of meaning in language, morphemes • Semantics: Meanings of words and sentences • Syntax: Rules that govern the ways in which phonemes, morphemes, and words can be combined • Pragmatics: The social uses of language

  6. Phonology • Study of how speech sounds are produced and perceived • Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound in a language that can affect meaning, e.g, /kæt/ vs. /bæt/. English has about 40 • Speech sounds are produced by forcing air pass the larynx and through the oral cavity • In vowels, the flow of air is continuous • In consonants, the flow of air is fully or partially blocked

  7. Consonants differ in terms of the following three dimensions • Place of articulation: where the flow of air is interrupted • Manner of articulation: how the flow of air is interrupted (e.g. completely or partially) • Voicing: whether the vocal cords are vibrating when the consonant is produced

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