Lesson 1 Language is a type of behaviour ( behavior USA) Language is a state of mind Language is communicati

1. Lesson 1 Language is a type of behaviour (behavior USA) Language is a state of mind Language iscommunication

2. Language is a type of behaviour Influence of the disciplines of anthropology and psychology. Inductivescientificapproachbased on empiricalresearch and drawingconclusions from the data obtained. "The onlyusefulgeneralizationsaboutlanguage are inductivegeneralizations ." Leonard Bloomfield, 1935: 20. Linguistsinspired by behaviourism are interestedonly in what can be directlyobserved, i.e. actual use of spoken or writtenlanguage. Theydo not speculate on whatis in a person'smind.

3. Mike and Angela are walkingalong the High Street. Angela stopsoutside a jeweller's shop. Hereyes light up. Shestoops to look carefullyat a very beautiful necklace.Shemakes some sounds. Mike goesinto the shop and buys the bracelet. He givesit to Angela. Shesmiles and kisseshim. Behaviouristlinguists do not just study the languageproduced, butalso the contextbeforesomethingissaid and the result of the utterance. For Bloomfielditispossible "to explainspeech in terms of whatpromptedit and whatconsequencesfollowed from it." Chapman, 2006: 30.

4. VerbalBehavior (1957), by B.F. Skinner. STIMULUS RESPONSE REINFORCEMENT Note the training of circusanimals to performtricks. Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) and his work on conditionedreflexes. Emotionsshouldnot be consideredin empiricalresearchbecausetheycannot be observed. Physicalsymptoms, on the otherhand, should be observed and noted. Therefore, a red face is a legitimatedatumbutspeculationaboutsomeone's mood (anger, embarrassment etc.) isnot. In our story, Angela'seyes light up. The soundsshemakes produce a favourableresponse. Thiswillreinforceherverbalbehaviour, i.e. willencourageher to makesimilarsounds the next time sheseessomethingshewouldlike to have.

5. "[...] thereis no justification for collatinglinguisticmeanings, unless in terms of men'sdispositions to respondovertly to sociallyobservablestimulations." (W.V.O. Quine, 1960: ix) "The only way in whichitispossible to talk about the meaning of any word or phraseis to describe the types of stimulithattypicallyprompt speakers to produce it in context." (Chapman, 2006: 33) The meaning of the utterance "I would love to havethat beautiful necklace" shouldnot be consideredwithoutreference to the stimulus of Angela'sseeingitdisplayed in the shop window. Meaningdoesnotexistindependently of individualinstances of verbalbehaviour (Quine’ssemanticscepticism).

6. Implications for translation: Quine'sprinciple of the indeterminacy of translation. Wecannottranslatemeaningsbecauseindependentmeanings do notexist. Insteadwehave to translate the verbalbehaviours of twolanguagecommunities (i.e. how, in specificcontexts, peoplerespond to stimuli and reinforce the responses of others).

7. Implications for theories of languageacquisition and learning. "[...] whenlearning a language, whether a first languageor a second or subsequentlanguage, a speaker's task is to learn to behaveverbally in the same way as the other speakers of thatlanguage. The speaker's success in learning the language can be judged in terms of the extent to which he or shehasdeveloped the dispositions to respond to stimuli and to reinforce the responses of others in the same way asother speakers of the language. " Chapman 2006: 34 Your viewsplease?

8. Todaycertainaspects of "hard" behaviourism - suchas the refusal to consider non-observablementalprocesses - havebeendiscredited. However, itsinfluencelives on in the work of integrationistlinguists, whobelievethatlanguagecannot be consideredseparately from otheraspects of human behaviour. "[the integrationistapproach] seeslanguageasmanifested in a complex of human abilities and activitiesthat are allintegrated in social interaction, oftenintricatelyso and in such a mannerthatitmakeslittlesense to segregate the linguistic from the non-linguisticcomponents." Roy Harris, 1998: 6

9. Language is a state of mind Chomskyanlinguistics. Noam Chomsky's focus is on whatis in the mind (anathema to behaviouristsbecause the mindcannot be directlyobserved). For NC language use is free, independent of stimuli in the environment, spontaneous and often creative. Language isnotevenprimarilyconcerned with communication. "For Chomsky languageexists first and foremost in the mind and isusedaboveall in thought and expressingourideas to ourselves. While the samesystemisalsoused to express ideas to otherpeople and communicate with them, thisisnotitsprimary or mostfrequentfunction." Chapman, 2006: 41. When Robinson Crusoewas alone on hisdesertisland he had no one to communicate with or to providestimuli, but he wasstillusinglanguage in histhoughts.

10. Language must provide "finite meansbut infinite possibilities of expression" Chomsky, 1966: 29. Wehave a finite number of words and structuresbutthereis no limit to the ways we can combine them to produce novelutterances. Behaviourismimplies a collection of socially appropriate responses to certainstimuli, therefore a lack of creativity. For Chomsky we are allcapable of producing a sentencethathasneverbeensaidbefore in the history of the human species. Twenty-seven dead kangaroosheld a meeting on an iceberg to discusschanges to the philosophy and female rugby programmeat the University of Quartucciu. Isthissentencegrammaticallycorrect?

11. Language isrule-based. Ourimplicitknowledge of the rules of our native languageallowus to makejudgementsaboutgrammaticality. Heldchanges an programmefemale to philosophykangaroos Quartucciu discuss on meeting the and rugby of female to iceberg dead Universitytwenty-seven a. Behaviourismstressesimitation. Mentalism (Chomskyanlinguistics) stressescreativity. Mentalistresearchers take their data only from the judgements and intuitions of native speakers. Implicitknowledge vs explicitknowledge.

12. Universal Grammar (UG). For Chomsky the essentialrules are universal to alllanguages. Alllanguagesconsist of nouns, verbs and adjectives. All sound systemsconsist of consonants and vowels. Individuallanguagespermitdifferent ways of combiningthesecomponentsbutaccording to the theory of UG the variationsoccurwithincertainparameters. For Chomsky an extra-terrestrialbeingvisitingourplanetwould conclude thatallearthlingsspeakessentially the samelanguage. Note that the technicalterminology of grammaticaldescriptionisveryeasy to translate from onelanguage to another.

13. The Innate Hypothesis (IH). We are born with the rules of UG; they are part of ourgeneticendowment. Thiswouldexplainwhywealllearnour native languageperfectly and quickly (typically in aboutfouryears). So whydoesn't UG allowus to learn a secondlanguage just aseasily? Itispossiblethatitdisappearsafterithasdoneits job of allowingus to acquireourmothertongue, so wehave to learn a secondlanguage in other ways and generally do not do so 100% successfully. Babiesbrought up with twolanguagesacquireboth with no difficulty. After a certainage, learningbecomesmuchharder. The case of the feralchild Genie. BUT: the phenomenon of hyperpolyglots - Donald Kenrickspeaks 70 languages.

14. "Language isnotdefined by the circumstances in whichitisused or the communicativepurposes to whichitis put. Itismanifestnotprimarily in speech or writingbut in thought." Chapman, 2006: 44. language use of language 'competence' 'performance' 'I-language' 'E-language' (I = internalized) (E = externalized) Mentalists focus theirresearch on competence. For them, performance isnotlanguage. What are the factorsthat can affect performance?

15. Chomsky's 'transformational-generative grammar'. 'deepstructure' and 'surfacestructure' John is easy to please. John iseager to please. NP VP AdjP John is easy to please John iseager to please Deepstructure: in the first sentence John is the unstatedobject of 'to please' (Itis easy to please John); in the secondsentence John is the unstatedsubject of 'to please' (John pleasesothers and he does so eagerly). Ourknowledge of deepstructure in unconscious and is part of a native speaker’s I-language/competence.

16. Furtherevidence of deepstructureisprovided by ourability to recognizeambiguity. Flying planes can be dangerous. (Chomsky, 1966) Whatdisturbed John wasbeingdisregarded by everyone. (Ibid.) Can yousaywhythesesentences are ambiguous?

17. Criticism of the mentalists Chomsky imagines an ideal speaker-listener in a completelyhomogenousspeech-community whosejudgements and intuitions are infallible. Thisisnot the realworld. His work isnotthe resultof empiricalresearchbased on observation. Speculationsuponwhatis in the mindislittle more than an act of faith. Itiswrong to give so littleattention to languageascommunication and to ignore performance.

18. In defence of Chomsky Thereis no proofthat UG or the IH existbutalso no evidence to disproveeitherclaim. Therehavebeen no recordedcases of children with normal brains and with normalexposure to languagefailing to learntheirmothertongue. Chomsky'swork has led to importantinsightsin how first and secondlanguages are acquired.

19. Language iscommunication Some linguistsbelieveitis futile to distinguishbetweenlanguage (competence) and use of language (performance). Quitesimply, languageis a form of communication. Unlikethe behaviourists, theselinguists do notexclude non-observable (i.e. cognitive) behaviour from consideration. Buttheyalsofirmlyreject the Chomskyan idea that the mainfunction of languageis to allowus to organiseourthoughts, whilecommunication with othersis a secondary and lessimportantfunction.

21. William Labov, widelyconsidered the father of sociolinguistics, wrote. "[...] eitherourtheories are about the languagethatordinarypeople use on the street, arguing with friends, or at home blamingtheirchildren, or they are aboutverylittleindeed." Sociolinguistsreject the Chomskyan idea thatlinguistsshouldonlystudycompetence and the intuitions of native speakers. On the contrary, they focus entirely on performance, including the contextual and cultural conditionsthatinfluencelinguistic production. For example, sociolinguistsstudysuchmattersaspoliteness and pronunciation, bothrelated to factorslike social class. Emphasis on authenticmaterial, e.g. recordings of peopletalking in realcommunicativeevents. Observation, notintuition. n.b. the observer'sparadox + the ethicalproblem of clandestine recording. Service encounters.

22. More thingsthatsociolinguistsstudybutwhich Chomsky considersunworthy of investigation: languageand gender dialects bilingualismand diglossia accommodationand audience design pidginsand creoles languageand identity

23. A hard attack on Chomsky "[Chomsky'stheory] isentirelybased on the theoretical model of the 'ideal' speaker-listener in an (imaginary) completelyhomogenousspeech community, of a kindwhichweallknowexistsnowhere, butwhichisconjured up in order to developrulesabout the supposed 'underlying' grammarwhichevery speaker possesses." John Honey (1997: 45), Language isPower (London, Faber & Faber). Whatis the effect of usinginvertedcommas for 'ideal' and 'underlying'? Whyis the word imaginary in brackets? Comment on conjured up (evocato/a). Comment on whichweallknowexistsnowhere.

24. A soft attack on Chomsky "I share Chomsky'sgoals for linguistics and admirehim for settingthem, buttheycannot be reached on histerms or by linguistics alone. Rules of appropriatenessbeyondgrammargovernspeech, and are acquiredas part of conceptions of self, and of meaningsassociatedboth with particularforms of speech and with the act of speakingitself." Dell Hymes (1974: 94), Foundations in Sociolinguistics, (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press). Hymesaccepts the idea of competencebutbelievesthatsyntacticcompetence must be supported by 'communicativecompetence' and 'sociolinguisticcompetence'.

25. Hymes's SPEAKING model of studyinglanguage with reference to social, interactive and interpersonalfeatures of communication (1974). Ssetting, situation, scene Pparticipants E ends, purposes, intentions A acts, form and content of whatissaid K key, tone, spirit, manner I instrumentalities, spoken/writtenlanguage, register Nnorms, socially and culturallydetermined G genres, type of speechevent, type of discourse

26. Twoviews of grammar Formalgrammar: focus on system of rules, patterns and regularities Functionalgrammar (M.A.K. Halliday): focus on grammaticalsystem in terms of functions, purposes and meaning (i.e. use of language) Halliday’sthree 'metafunctions' for language: 'ideational': howindividualsmakesense of theirenvironment 'interpersonal': purposes to whichlanguageis put 'textual': howpassages of language are put together

27. Halliday'sstudy of texts (bothwritten and spoken) For Chomsky the mainunit of linguisticstudyis the sentence (a finite set of rulesthat can generate an infinite number of sentences. Hallidayworks on longertexts and considers the languagesystem (competence) and use of language (performance, the text produced, the speaker/writer'scommunicativepurposes) together.

28. Branches of linguisticanalysisbased on texts: Pragmatics: notwhat the wordsmeanbutwhatpeoplemean, i.e. whattheywant to achievewhenthey use language Discourse Analysis(DA): analysis of how the languageuser (P1) converts an intentioninto text and how the listener/speaker (P2) convertsthat text into an interpretation of P1's intendedmessage. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA): DA related to power. The emphasisis on understandinghow P1's linguisticchoicesrevealthingsabouthis/herideological position.

29. We can nowobtain a great deal of information abouthowlanguage (from individualwords to long texts) isused in authenticcommunicativesituationsthanks to CORPUS LINGUISTICS. Computer technologyenablesus to record and analyse an enormousnumber of texts. As a consequence, wehaveacquiredknowledge of howwords and expressions are mostfrequentlyusedthatmaycontradictourintuitions. Whatis the keymeaning of the word season? Mentalistsreplythat CORPORA can be enormousbutthey can never be complete. A naturallanguageis infinite but a corpus is finite. Only the underlyingcompetence of a native speaker and his/herintuitions can distinguishbetweenacceptable and unacceptablecombinations of words in a languagethatpermits infinite possibilities.

30. Again, the irreconcilableconflict: Corpus linguisticsisconcerned with empiricalresearchbased on what can be observeddirectly. Chomskyanlinguisticsisbased on introspective data (native speakers' intuitions) thatcannot be verified by observation. Sociolinguists and corpus linguistsarguesayyoucannotstudylanguageassomethingabstract and divorced from use of language. Mentalistssay corpora and sociolinguistic data describe performance but do not help usunderstandcompetence. The conflictisnot just abouthow to study/investiagtebutalsobutwhatitiswe are studying.

31. Finalthoughts Chomsky is a giantwhetheryouagree with him or not. People who take an entirelydifferentapproach to the study of languagenevertheless end up expressingtheirviews with reference to Chomsky. In chapter 2 of ThinkingAbout LanguageSiobhanChapmandedicatespages 54 to 68 to the idea thatlanguageiscommunication, but on practicallyeveryone of thosepagesshementions Chomsky, whobelievesthatlanguageisnotprimarily for communication. Corpus linguisticshastoldus a lot. Consequently, moderndictionaries and grammars are descriptive, notprescriptive. But in conferencesall over the world thousands of worthlesspapershavebeenpresented by peoplewhohavemastered the technologybut use it to produce nothing of scientificvalue.

32. Lesson2 Text (spoken or written) = product The languagethat a speaker/writerproduces Discourse = process The meaningthat a first person (P1) intends to express in producing a text, butalso the meaningthat a secondperson (P2) interprets from the text: (i) for P1 a process of encoding an intendedmessageintolanguage; (ii) for P2 a process of decodinglanguage (i.e. a text) into an understanding of the message.

33. Discourse Analysis (DA): analysis of the linguisticchoices a speaker/writermakes in producing a text and of the effect of thosechoices on a listener/reader. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA): a socio-politicallymotivatedapproach to the study of language use thatfocuses on howlinguisticfeaturesreveal the ideologicalstance of the speaker/writer.

34. Stylistics “[…] originally a straightforwardapplication of linguisticdescription to literarytexts, [it] hasdevelopedinto a fullyfledged and multifacetedfield in itsown right, and hastaken on boardprogess in allareas of linguistics and lityerarystudiesaswellaspsychology and otherfields, in itsquest to describe the workings of text, bothliterary and non-literary.” Lesley Jeffries, Critical Stylistics, 2010: 2) Cognitive Stylistics: “[the use of] to consider the reader’s (or hearer’s) construction of meaning.” (Ibid.) Jeffries entitlesher book Critical Stylisticsbecauseherapproachis more linguisticallyorientedthan the socio-politicalanalysis of Critical Discourse Analysis.

35. Was this newspaper report written by a man or a woman? A man who suffered head injuries when attacked by two men who broke into his home in Beckenham, Kent yesterday was pinned down on the bed by the intruders who took it in turns to rape his wife. (Daily Telegraph)

36. A man who suffered head injuries when attacked by two men who broke into his home in Beckenham, Kent yesterday was pinned down on the bed by the intruders who took it in turns to rape his wife. This is a complex sentence containing a main clause and four relative clauses. A man (1)who suffered head injuries (2)when attacked by two men (3)who broke into his home in Beckenham, Kent yesterday was pinned down on the bed by the intruders(4)who took it in turns to rape his wife. What is the first Noun Phrase in this sentence? What is the last NP? What/who do the relative pronouns 1, 2, 3 and 4 refer to?

37. A man who suffered head injuries when attacked by two men who broke into his home in Beckenham, Kent yesterday was pinned down on the bed by the intruders who took it in turns to rape his wife. Prioritizing. The man is the first NP and there are four references to how he suffered. In the second line the possessive pronoun his is used. The man and his wife live together, so it would be more accurate to write “their house” but this anaphoric reference is not possible because the wife has not yet been mentioned. She makes her appearance in the very last NP preceded by the single reference to how she suffered. Why are the criminals defined as intruders rather than rapists? The implication is that their main criminal act is the violation of the man’s property, not the woman’s body.

38. “The contention of much discussion in CDA and related literature is that there are dominant groups whose ideologies are bound to be reproduced in the media and other texts, and in this way ideologies are continually reasserted to the point at which they become naturalized […] and become seen by the population at large as common sense, and thus in some sense intrinsically true.” (Jeffries, 2010: 7) “[…] it is important to bear in mind that all text producers have the potential to produce hidden ideologies in an attempt to persuade and manipulate, and that the techniques of embedding of ideology […] are common across the whole range of communicative situations in which we find ourselves on a daily basis.” (Ibid.)

39. Rhetoric v. hidden or embedded ideology Rhetoric is the explicit use of linguistic techniques in order to convince people. The techniques are obvious. “I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” Martin Luther King Ideology is subtle and often insidious. Many readers/listeners do not recognize the techniques employed but may be influenced by them at the unconscious level. “Regrettably the strike has already caused considerable disruption and if an agreement with the unions cannot be reached there is a danger that it will continue into next week.”

40. “Regrettably the strike has already caused considerable disruption and if an agreement with the unions cannot be reached there is a danger that it will continue into next week.” “Fortunatelythe strike has already caused considerable disruption and if the management fail to reach an agreement with the unions there is the hopethat it will continue into next week.”

41. Naturalization Naturalization is when a notion is repeated until it is accepted as “common sense”, something that is taken for granted or seen as self-evidently true. Jeffries’ examples (2010: 9): It is wrong to make children work in factories. It is a good thing for women to be slim. Other examples: 3. Governments should not subsidize loss-making companies because it only encourages continued inefficiency. 4. It’s a bad thing if university students abandon their studies. Other examples:

42. Schema Theory Singular: schema Plural: schemata or schemas A schema is an individual’s background knowledge and taken-for-granted assumptions. The aim of a text may be to confirm people’s schemata or to try to change their schemata. Members’ Resources (MR): the resources (knowledge, beliefs, values, assumptions, experiences, prejudices etc.) that people already have when they either produce or interpret a text.

43. How to carry out CDA. Fairclough’s three ‘dimensions’ (1989: 26) Description: the formal properties of the text Interpretation: the relationship between the text (the product) and interaction (the processes of producing and interpreting) Explanation: the relationship between interaction and socio-political context. Jeffries (2010: 11, 12) believes that most CDA scholars focus on the third dimension and that we should pay more attention to the second (the interpretation of texts). Cognitive stylistics is now addressing this area.

44. Jeffries’ tools for conducting CDA (2010: 15) • Naming and Describing • Representing Actions/Events/States • Equating and Contrasting • Exemplifying and Enumerating • Prioritizing • Assuming and Implying • Negating • Hypothesizing • Presenting the Speech and Thoughts of other Participants • Representing Time, Space and Society.

45. Lesson 3: Naming and Describing Choices we make when naming a person: The Right Honourable David Cameron Prime Minister David Cameron Mr Cameron David Cameron David Dave Old-Etonian David Cameron

46. Noun Phrase (Noun Group) and Verb Phrase (Verb Group) Noun Phases represent entities Verb Phrases represent processes The typical simple sentence SUBJECT PREDICATOR(VERB) OBJECT The examiner checked the students' tests. NP VP NP entity process entity “actor” action “goal”

47. NP VP NP PrepP pre-modifiersheadpost-modifier The impatient, bad-tempered examinercheckedthe student's testsin less than an hour. The examiner was impatient and bad-tempered. He checked the students’ tests. He spent less than an hour doing this. Three sentences with simple NPs or one sentence with complex NPs. Is the difference only a question of brevity?

48. NP VP NP PrepP pre-modifiersheadpost-modifier The impatient, bad-tempered examinercheckedthe student's testsin less than an hour. The examiner was impatient and bad-tempered. He checked the students’ tests. He spent less than an hour doing this. “[…] the main ideological importance of noun phrases is that they are able to ‘package up’ ideas or information which are not fundamentally about entities but which are really a description of a process, event or action. In other words, the distinction between entities and processes is made less clear, and a process can be presented as being more like an entity.” (Jeffries, 2010: 19) Can we question the existence of an entity?

49. Choice of nouns regional variations: brioche cornetto pasta tuta sportiva canadese connotations: prostitute whore escort sex worker

50. the literal, the conventional metaphor, the novel metaphor He's dominated by his wife. He's under his wife's thumb. In his relations with his wife he has a very high mouse-factor. She always displays total servility towards her boss. She's always brown-nosing her boss. She always puts her pride on the floor and invites her boss to walk over it. Goatly (2007, cited by Jeffries 2010: 21) notes that novel metaphors require longer cognitive processing time than literal expressions or conventional metaphors. We pay less attention to the literal or the conventional metaphor, so their ideological force may not be consciously noticed (but unconsciously absorbed).