Language And Prescriptive Grammar
Download as PPT, PDF15 likes12,940 views
The document discusses language and prescriptive grammar. It argues that language is an innate human ability, not something with rigid rules. While some think languages like Latin or English should follow strict rules, the document notes that languages evolve naturally and no language is inherently "right" or "wrong." Prescriptive grammar rules often come from trying to make languages like English conform to Latin, when they are very different types of languages.
Language And Prescriptive Grammar
- 1. Language and Prescriptive Grammar A different way to think about language
- 2. For many people, talking about traditional grammar can be stressful. Yikes!
- 3. Why so Stressful? Many of us have been told that we don’t know how to talk or write. Yet, we seem to be able to make ourselves understood… It’s making me crazy!
- 4. What is Language? Language is a very special code that humans use to communicate thoughts between individuals-- Speech Sign
- 5. Language is Used for Exchanging Ideas Idea Message decoded Message Transmitted Message received
- 6. Talking about the Water Talking about language is like talking to the fish about the water: It is so ubiquitous that most of the time we don’t even know that there is something to talk about.
- 7. It Takes a Smart Person… … to ask why the apple falls down and not up. If we just accept the things that seem obvious, we never get to science.
- 8. News Flash! Dolphins don’t swim properly! Pandas hold bamboo in wrong paw! Monkey’s cries in state of chaos! Bird’s nests incorrectly constructed! Songs of humpback whale known to contain several errors!
- 9. Say What? How can something that animals do naturally have “errors?” What does it mean to say that an instinctual behavior is “in a state of chaos?” How can there be a “wrong” way if there is no “right” way? Who made up these rules, anyway?
- 10. Examples of Prescriptive Grammar Pick your favorite rule! Don’t use a double negative. “ I didn’t go nowhere.” Don’t end a sentence in a preposition. “ Who did you give the candy bar to?” Don’t split infinitives. “… to boldly go where no one has gone before.”
- 11. Where did These Rules Come From? People thought Latin was the most elegant, logical, well-structured language. They tried to make English behave like Latin.
- 12. Rules for Latin don’t Work Well for English. English and Latin are very different kinds of languages. Latin is a language that relies on case endings (inflections). Latin has case ending, not prepositions. You can’t split infinitive in Latin because they are a single word. English is a language that relies on word order to express roles that words play.
- 13. Language is an Instinct Scientists think about language the same way that they think about: Bats using echolocation. Spiders building webs. Geese using stars to navigate. Salmon returning to spawning beds. Songs of the humpback whale.
- 14. Echolocation Not invented (by humans) until WWII. Involves very specialized equipment. Does a very specific job. Locates food (bugs) that is flying around.
- 15. What does a Theory of Echolocation Look Like?
- 16. What does a Theory of Language Look Like? Descriptive Grammar. It’s not what you learned in school. Let’s call that prescriptive grammar.
- 17. Research on Language Think about language as if we were aliens from another planet. What would we notice about this interesting behavior?
- 18. When Scientists Study How Language Works… They find: Everyone knows her own language perfectly and speaks it fluently. The knowledge of language is not accessible. What you know about your language is largely unconscious.
- 19. Research on Language Language appears to be unique to the human species. Babies are specially “tuned” to learn language.
- 20. All Children Learn Language Just like: All birds learn to fly. All spiders learn to spin webs. All fish learn to swim. All children learn to talk.
- 21. Language Timetable There is a “critical period” for language. If children don’t learn language by puberty, evidence shows that they never will.
- 22. Research on Language Special parts of the brain are involved. Stroke affects particular part of brain. Patient loses ability to use language. Intelligence is usually unaffected.
- 23. Speech (or Sign) is Primary Speech (or Sign) is the primary channel that carries language. Writing is derived from speech. Writing is encoded speech. Speech is crucial. Speech
- 24. Other Animals don’t Seem to Have Language How do other animals communicate? No system close to human language in complexity. Fixed set of communications that usually concern social hierarchy.
- 25. We’ve Tried Teaching it to Apes Animals have been raised with human children. They have been taught to use signs. Despite much effort, apes aren’t able to acquire human language.
- 26. Language is not Intelligence Consider the case of Homer Simpson. Having language doesn’t make you smart.
- 27. Language is not Intelligence Children with William’s Syndrome are often hyperfluent (have higher than normal language skills), but accompanied by profound cognitive delays. Even typically developing toddlers can’t tie their own shoes, add, subtract, multiply, drive a car, or vote.
- 28. Intelligence doesn’t Get You Language Apes are smart, social, and good at solving problems… … but they don’t have the equipment to learn language the way that humans do.
- 29. Language is not Intelligence Language depends on such specialized, unconscious knowledge, e.g., grammar, it doesn’t play that big a role in determining intelligence.
- 30. Language does not Equal Thought Do Eskimos really have 100 different words for snow? Not exactly. They have about as many words for snow as we have.
- 31. Research Shows that Language is Complex SEMANTICS S y n t a x Phonetics Morphology pHOnoLoGy Pragmatics
- 32. Try building a Computer that Understands Language No machine has yet been able to understand speech produced in a natural context. (But not for lack of trying.)
- 33. The Acquisition of Language Language is learned very fast by most children. Children learn language with what seems to be almost no effort.
- 34. Writing is Secondary No humans have ever existed without speech. Lots of languages have never had a writing system. Learning language (speaking) occurs long before learning to write.
- 35. Writing is Learned Unlike language, writing and reading are laboriously and painfully learned behaviors. Whereas language comes as a part of our original design, literacy is an additional part that must be bolted on after we leave the factory.
- 36. Grammar is Innate Some significant part of our knowledge of language is in our genes. This innate knowledge has evolved over millions of years. This pre-existing knowledge is what allows babies to acquire language with such ease.
- 37. From a Linguist’s Perspective The word “English” itself has at least two separate meanings: It may refer to a dialect that is dominant within a country. “ English is the language of the U.S.” It may also refer to a group of related dialects, none of which has the status as the standard “language”. “ English is spoken in many parts of the world.”
- 38. “ Language” is a Fuzzy Concept This is not an unusual situation in science: Is Greenland a large island or a small continent? Is light a particle or a wave? Is Pluto a planet with a large orbit or an asteroid with a small orbit?
- 39. Language vs. Dialect In China, there are many dialects. Some dialects are not mutually intelligible. Mandarin-Cantonese: 46.5% mutual intelligibility ( www. glossika .com ) Yet, we still call it all the “Chinese” Language.
- 40. Language vs. Dialect When we compare German and Dutch, the boundaries between languages are not so clear. Eastern Dutch and Low German have dialects that have very high mutually intelligibility. Yet, we call them separate languages.
- 41. Dialects in the U.S.
- 42. From a Linguist’s Perspective The distinction between “dialect” and “language” is largely not scientific. Linguists don’t spend their time establishing which dialects get to be called “a language”. Such distinctions are essentially a political decision.
- 43. Linguistic vs. Political Linguists answer this problem by assuming that everyone speaks a dialect. A dialect may also happen to be “language”. “ Language” is label that usually gets associated which the dialect that has the most power.
- 44. How Does a Dialect Become a Language? They become the most important dialect for certain activities: Business Education Government Religion Some dialects acquire high status for cultural reasons.
- 45. Standard American English (SAE) Is a dialect. Is the dominant dialect in the U.S. SAE is a dialect with the full backing of the state. Thus, we call it a “language.” A “language” is a dialect with an army and a navy.
- 46. What does it mean when someone tells you… … you shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition? It usually means someone who speaks a different dialect is telling you to stop using your own dialect.
- 47. But… People can master different dialects. And there may be good reasons for doing so. Participation in business. Academic work. To be perceived as in the mainstream.
- 48. Conventions are Important It makes sense to have some kinds of standards. American Psychological Association Modern Language Association Chicago Style Manual