Introduction to English Linguistics

non hierachical

- synonymy:

• descriptive (drunk- pissed)
• total (Orange - Apfelsine)

- autonymy:

• gradable (cold - hot)
• relational opposites (teacher - pupil)
• directional opposition (push - pull)
• complementary autonymy (dead - alive)

hierachical

- hyponymy

• x is a kind of y (rose - plant)
• Ueberbegriff: hyperonym
• Unterbegriff: hyponym

- meronymy

• x is part of y (roof- house)
• Ueberbegriff: holonym
• Unterbegriff: meronym

one form having multiple meanings

medium - independent --> homonymy (some forms have unrelated meaning)

medium - dependent  --> homographs (spellt identically, but pronounced differently)

                                        --> homophones (pronounced identically, but spellt differently)

meaning explained in terms of categorization

meaning is always linked with human cognition

best representative of a given group

state an equivalence between terms taken from different semantic domains

There is a transport from one concrete source domain (=vehicle) to a rather abstract target domain (= tenor)

---> similarity is referred as tertium comperationis

is based on an objectively existing connection between the phenomena involved

the phonema involved are part of the same situation

"He has a picasso."

is language in use.

central: (where speaker is with sentence)

- person deixis (personal pronouns, possessive pronouns)

- space deixis (here - there)

- time deixis (now, yesterday, next, present)

non central: (doesn't need a centre)

- social deixis (doctor, Sir)

- discourse deixis (all in all, in conclusion)

- deixis of manner (The fish was this size)

meaning of deictic expressions can only be derived from the context. (You need certain context to put meaning into words)

--> J.L. Austin & John Searle

Illocutionary acts

- assertives: assert, claim, state

- directives: order, invite

- commissives: promise, vow

- expressives: thank, welcome, congratulate

- declaratives: resign, baptise, open a meeting

The primary speech act is performed through a secondary speech act

(always have two speech acts in one e.g: "Is this what you want to wear to the party?"

"be concrete"

content-related maxims

- maxim of quality (make your contribution true)

- maxim of quantity (give as much information as necessary)

- maxim of relation (be relevant, don't change topic)

form-related maxim

- maxim of manner (avoid, obscurity +ambiguity, be brief +orderly)

flout a maxim:

speaker does not follow the maxims, but expects the hearer to infer the implied meaning

violate a maxim:

speaker intentionally generates an implicature that is misleading, knowing that the

hearer will only understand the surface meaning of his words.

the inteaction of society and language

1. Language sociology (bi- and multilingualism; language attitudes; language planning)

2. Correlational or quantitive sociolinguistics (social and regional variation of language; discourse structure)

regional

- dialect; national varieties

• usually defined by differences in lexis, pronounciation and grammar
• "accent" in linguistics only refer to pronounciation

social

- sociolect

• for example: genderlect, professional jargon, slang
• determined by the speaker's: socioeconomics status, level of education, profession, age, ethnicity, sex

functional

- register

• for example: English specific purposes, colloquial English, formal English
• primarily determined by the relevant communicative situation
• style is similarly defined, but associated more with personal preferences

- Chomskey (American)

- Language Aquisition Device (LAD)

- competence: what you can do in ypur mind

- performance: what you actually say / can differ from what you formed in your mind

- Jakobson (Russian)

- How communicative functions may help shape language structure

- Saussure (Swiss)

- language sysems in signs

- signifiant = sound sequence / written word

- signifié = the concept / picture

- Langue = refers to language itself / speech community

- parole = actual act of speeking

- direct relationship between sign and what it stands for

- visual and sound similarity

is concerned with sounds as such, articulation, transmitting perception of sounds.

- sound as such

- language use

- not language sprecific

- concrete

- phone [ ]

is how language is used in a certain system

- sounds as parts of a certain system

- language system (langue)

- language specific

- abstract

phoneme / /

sound as such [ ]

smallest meaning distinguishing unit / /

different phones realising one phoneme -> not meaning changing!

- acoustic (physical characteristics of sounds / vocal folds vibration = voiced - voiceless)

- auditory (about sound perception)

- articulatory (describes sounds with regard to the organs of speech)

bilibial - /p/; /b/; /m/; /w/ -> "wet" (using both lips)

labioldental - /v/ -> "vison" /f/ (upper teeth touches lower lips)

dental - /θ/ -> "think' /ð/ -> "that" (tongue touches upper teeth)

alveolar - / n/; /l/; /d/; /t/; /s/; /z/ (tongue touches alveloar ridge)

post-alveolar - /r/ -> "ring' (tounge is right behind the alveolar ridge)

palato-alveolar - /ʃ/; /tʃ/; /ʒ/; /dʒ/ (tongue is between alveolar ridge and hard palate)

palatal - /j/ ->"yes" (tounge touches hard palate)

velar - /g/; /k/; /ŋ/ -> "ring" (back of tongue touches soft palate)

glottal -  /h/; /?/ -> glottal stop

plosives - /p/; /b/; /t/; /d/; /k/; /g/ (complete obstruction before sudden release of air)

frikatives - /f/; /v/; /ʃ/; /ʒ/; /s/; /z/; /θ/; /ð/; /h/ (partial obstruction before airflow with friction)

affricates - /tʃ/; /dʒ/ (complete obstruction before airflow causes friction)

nasal - /m/; /n/; /ŋ/ (obstruction of airflow in oral cavity; soft palate is lowered; airflow is released through nasal   cavity)

approximents - /l/; /r/; /w/; /j/ (2 articulators approaching each other without audible friction)

voiced consonants (v+) --> vocal folds vibrate

/b/; /d/; /ð/ (-> "the"); /g/; /ŋ/; /z/

voicless consonants (v-) --> vocal folds don't vibrate

/p/; /t/; /θ/ (--> "throne") /k/; /s/; /f/

Monophtongs

- short or long

gliding vowels

- dipthongs or triphtongs