Introduction to Linguistics UDE
Definitions from the Lecture Introduction to Linguistics from WiSe25/26 and SoSe26 UDE
Definitions from the Lecture Introduction to Linguistics from WiSe25/26 and SoSe26 UDE
Speech Act Theory: Illocutionary Act
speech intention, force of saying smth.
Speech Act Theory: Locutionary Act
actual wording, saying smth., using sounds, words with meaning
Speech Act Theory: Perlocutionary Act
Effect, what is achieved by saying smth.
Representatives/Assertives
contain a certain statement about the world (true/false) e.g. describe, claim, state, insist
Directives
attempts by speaker to get hearer to do smth. e.g. order, request, ask
Commissives
commit speaker to perform some future action, e.g. promise, swear, guarantee
Expressives
express psychological state of certain attitude of speaker, e.g. like, love, sorry, thanks
Declaration
changes reality by being spoken, e.g. baptise, fire, marry
4 Grice's Cooperative Principles / Maxims
1. Quantity
2. Quality
3. Relation
4. Manner
Maxim: Quantity
make your contribution as informative as is required
do not make your contribution more informative than is required
Maxim: Quality
Supermaxim: Try to make your contribution one that is true
Do not say what you believe is false
Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence for
Maxim: Relation (Relevance)
Be relevant
Maxim: Manner
Supermaxim: Be perspicuous
1. Avoid obscurity of expressions
2. Avoid ambiguity
3. Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity)
4. Be orderly
Violation of maxim:
non cooperative behaviour: e.g. A: Where were you? B: (lying) At the office. (Quality violation)
Flouting of a maxim
fail to fulfil maxim, recipient understands that the speaker is cooperative but generates a conversational implicature, e.g. A: Where have you been? B: Out.
Conversational implicature in maxims
if utterances doesn't confirm to maxims (not nonsense but: there is an appropriate meaning to be inferred)
Deixis
points to a current communicative situation
Person deixis
speaker, addressee, third party, etc. - I, you, he, they, our, ...
Place deixis
position in relation to the position of the speaker - here, there, this, that, come, next town,...
Time deixis
time reference in relation to the speakers position in time - today, now, tomorrow, current, next, last, ...
Introspective
Relying on intuition of linguists
Empirical
Using authentic data as the basis of research
Theoretical approach of language
Developing a theoretical part
Applied approach of language
application of knowledge
language specific
only one language in focus
comparative
comparing languages to discover patterns
Descriptive
observing a particular part of language in a neutral way
Prescribtive
formulating rules for the correct use of particular language
Synchronic
Describing language at a specific time
Diachronic
Linguistic change through time
Formalism (Chomsky)
Units of language are combined into larger strings following rules
Meanings and functions are structured by syntax
Competence: mental knowledge
Performance: actual language use
Functionalism (Bühler: Organon Modell, 1934 & Jakobson: Six functions of language, 1960)
Units of language have certain functions; these functions and meanings explain the linguistic system and its structures
Structuralism (Saussure: the lingustic sign, 1916 & Odgen and Richards: Semiotic Triangle, 1923)
Language as an overarching structure; units of language are analysed in terms of their relationship within and to the system
Duality
2 Levels
1. limited set of discrete sounds and rules
2. infinite combinations (words and sentences)
-> human language is economical
Arbitrariness
no natural connection between sound and meaning (exceptions: onomatopoeia)
Reflexivity
language can be used to think/talk about itself -> metalinguistic function
Displacement
Language can be used to refer to context removed from the immediate situation
Recursion/Productivity
the ability to produce a theoretically infinite number of grammatical sentences
cultural + social transmission
language is taught + learned within a cultural context
Homophones (for single sounds)
same sound, different spelling (e.g. /u:/ you, blue, new, ...)
-
- 1 / 113
-
Lernkarten
Introspective
Relying on intuition of linguists
Empirical
Using authentic data as the basis of research
Theoretical approach of language
Developing a theoretical part
Applied approach of language
application of knowledge
language specific
only one language in focus
comparative
comparing languages to discover patterns
Descriptive
observing a particular part of language in a neutral way
Prescribtive
formulating rules for the correct use of particular language
Synchronic
Describing language at a specific time
Diachronic
Linguistic change through time
Formalism (Chomsky)
Units of language are combined into larger strings following rules
Meanings and functions are structured by syntax
Competence: mental knowledge
Performance: actual language use
Functionalism (Bühler: Organon Modell, 1934 & Jakobson: Six functions of language, 1960)
Units of language have certain functions; these functions and meanings explain the linguistic system and its structures
Structuralism (Saussure: the lingustic sign, 1916 & Odgen and Richards: Semiotic Triangle, 1923)
Language as an overarching structure; units of language are analysed in terms of their relationship within and to the system
Duality
2 Levels
1. limited set of discrete sounds and rules
2. infinite combinations (words and sentences)
-> human language is economical
Arbitrariness
no natural connection between sound and meaning (exceptions: onomatopoeia)
Reflexivity
language can be used to think/talk about itself -> metalinguistic function
Displacement
Language can be used to refer to context removed from the immediate situation
Recursion/Productivity
the ability to produce a theoretically infinite number of grammatical sentences
cultural + social transmission
language is taught + learned within a cultural context
Homophones (for single sounds)
same sound, different spelling (e.g. /u:/ you, blue, new, ...)
Homographs (for single sounds)
different sound, same spelling (e.g. beat /i:/ , head /e/, great /ei/, heart /a:/)
Silent letters
e.g. knee, honest, psychology, debt
Missing letters
e.g. [j] in use, cute, new
Voicing of consonants
Vibration of the vocal cords
Voiceless consonants
Open vocal cords, airstream can pass through (/p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /θ/, /s/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /h/)
Voiced consonants
closed vocal cords, airstream sets them vibrating (/b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /ð/, /z/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/, /r/, /j/, /w/)
Manner of articulation
way in which air stream is affected by the articulators
Obstruent
air stream is impeded or blocked by the articulators
Sonorants
Airstream is continuous, non-turbulent
Phonemes
smallest meaning distinguishing units -> realisation: phones
Minimal pairs
pair of words with different meaning differing in one sound (nap-map; feel-fall)
Morphology
study of "the formation and internal organisation of words"
syntactic attributes
smallest units that can occur in certain context (e.g. short answers like yes, no, what,...)
Orthographical attribute of a word
orthographically uninterrupted unis separated on each side by spaces/punctuation
Phonological attribute
phonological units with typically at least one primary stress
Semantic-cognitive attribute
units associated with a unit of meaning, an integrated idea, a conceptual 'gestalt'
Derivation
affixes are used to create new words, derivational morphemes can change the meaning or the word class
suffixation (undercategory of derivation)
morpheme at the end (e.g. -ify, -able, -hood, -ity, -ise, -ish, -er, - ment, -less, ...)
Prefixation (undercategory of derivation)
morpheme in the beginning (e.g. un-, mis-, inter-, be-, dis-, ...)
Compounding
two or three morphemes are combined to form a new polymorphic word (e.g. highchair, swearword, underdog, bottle-green)
