Fundamental concepts of

Linguistics
Lecture 3
 Content

• Linguistic sign vs Symbol

• Plato`s problem
• Universal grammar
• Generative grammar
• Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations
• Substance and form
• Sapir Whorf hypothesis
 Linguistic sign

• It is a physical marker that carries some information

• Direct
• Brief
• Precise (only not other)
 Word Represents Concept

• Word does not represent the actual object in real life

• But the concept/image of the object we have in our minds
• If the word tree represents the real object (tree)
• The word for this object in all languages woudd have been the same
• We see an object and form a concept of it in our minds
 Word/Concept Relations

• We invent a word consisting of some sound-images

• That represents the concept exists in mind
• The relationship between the sound /words and the concept they signify
• An arbitrary
• No logical reason why we choose a certain word to represent a concept
• Since sign are arbitrary
• They di er from language to language
• Every society constructs its own concepts of the real world
• Links there concepts to certain signi ers and signi ed that is chosen arbitrary
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 Validity of Sign

• This relationship once establish as social fact - continues over a long period of time
• Social agreement gives it valisity
•
 Relational Entity

• Signs are the relational entities

• Exist in terms of complex relationships to each other
• Signs make up the whole system of a language
 Symbol

• A kind of sign that signi es several concepts on the basis of the primary
relationship of signi er/signi ed
• Thus the word «tree» signi es concept of tree (primary relationship) may also
signify:
• Life, growth etc becomes not only sign but also symbol
• Symbol means more information e.g. waving one`s hand
• Symbolic of farewell
• Dismissal etc.
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Substance & Form
 Form

• All distinct sounds and written script are the substance of a language
• It is meanigless (only noisy)
• Required some form to become meaningful
• When sounds, letters, words are arranged in a certain way:
• We can see some meaning in them
• It becomes a form of a language
• It is just like a shapless log of wood
• The carpenter makes a chair/table ou of it
• He changes substance into form
 Speci ic Arrangement makes Form

• Sounds when arranged in a particular order signify something meaningful

• Words when arranged in a particular order - express some meaningful idea/action
• The arrangement itself gives form to the substance of the language
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• Substance is element/raw material of language
• Form is the associative order in which elements are brought together in a
meaningful way
• So, form is the concern of linguistic study, not substance
• Form makes it study substance
 Structure/system
Syntagmatic/ paradigmatic relationships
 Structure

• An ordered composition of many elements/parts:

• Each part being related to the whole
• Also related to the elements within it
• Inter-relationship of elements constitute SYSTEM
• Within each system, elements are selected and combined to build up structure
 The Phonological System: Words Structure
To build up a words such as «TAKE»

• We will select some sounds out of several possible sounds

• We combine then in a particaular order and decide which one is to occur rst and
which later

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 Structure: Process of Selection
Certain rules operate

• We can select only one element from a class of similar elements

• A particular consonant from same class
• A noun from a class of nouns

• /k/ /b/ /t/ all are consonants

 Structure: Process of Combination
Certain rules cooperate

• We combine the chosen elements in a particular order

• These elements are combined in a particular sequence
 Language Structure: Orchestra

• The member of an orchestra are all related to each other as a whole - by their
speci c roles
• Smaller groups (violonists, bass player) perform their function in a relation to other
• Players cannot be added or taken away without changing its quality
•
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Structure constitute system
Structure: an order compposition of many parts
 Paradigmatic Relationship

• The relationship between those elements which are similar as belong to same class/
category is Paradigmatic relationship - which holds between several elements of
same class within a system
• Elements can be replaced by another elements within the same system and class
 Syntagmatic Relationships

• The particular sequence between elements is Syntagmatic relationship

• In Syntagmatic relationships, the elements have to be combined in the proper
sequnce
• We cannot violate the sequential order
 Signi icance of these relationships

• These relationships are like two intersecting threads - that build up the fabric of
language
• On the basis of these relationships, the rules of selection & combination operate and
constitutes the structure of a language
• Language has duality of structure
• Selection of elements at one level
• Combination of these elements at another level
• To form a structure unit
• Limited number of elements can construct large number of combinations
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 "Plato's Problem" (a term from Chomsky):
• Plato`s problem is the problem of nding an explanation for how a child acquires language though the
child does not receive explicit instructions and the primary linguistic data a child does receive is limited
• What's in the stimulus?
a) acoustic continuum between phonemes

b) no chanting of the phonemic inventory or list of phonological rules

c) no morpheme boundaries

d) no word boundaries

e) no syntactic trees

f ) no indices indicating coreference

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 Universal Grammar

• much of our linguistic knowledge is innate.

o knowledge of the phonetic boundaries
o a drive to discover word boundaries, a drive to build a lexicon
o a drive to place phrase boundaries, innate knowledge of possible syntaxes o
innate knowledge of Principle C, compositional semantics etc.
 universal grammar, theory proposing that humans possess innate faculties related to the
acquisition of language. The de nition of universal grammar has evolved considerably since
rst it was postulated and, moreover, since the 1940s, when it became a speci c object of
modern linguistic research. It is associated with work in generative grammar, and it is based
on the idea that certain aspects of syntactic structure are universal. Universal grammar
consists of a set of atomic grammatical categories and relations that are the building blocks
of the particular grammars of all human languages, over which syntactic structures and
constraints on those structures are de ned. A universal grammar would suggest that all
languages possess the same set of categories and relations and that in order to
communicate through language, speakers make in nite use of nite means, an idea that
Wilhelm von Humboldt suggested in the 1830s. From this perspective, a grammar must
contain a nite system of rules that generates in nitely many deep and surface structures,
appropriately related. It must also contain rules that relate these abstract structures to
certain representations of sound and meaning—representations that, presumably, are
constituted of elements that belong to universal phonetics and universal semantics,
respectively.
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 ...but also unsurprisingly imperfect!

• Still -- it's not surprising that learning might not be perfect even if input is perfect. Imperfect
learning should still deposit the child's knowledge of language within the boundaries of UG.
Result: variation.

• Also: language contact produces situations where a child's input might be diverse -- native
speakers, non-native speakers. Result: variation.

• In a random walk of variation, the variant adopted by the majority of speakers may be
di erent at di erent times. Result: linguistic change.

• The course of linguistic change may be di erent in di erent speech communities that were
united but have since been separated. Result: dialect/language distinctions
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• Two speech communities that have seen a modest amount of distinct paths of linguistic
change are commonly said to speak dialects of the same language.
But: Dialect, language, and even speech community are imprecise concepts. The important
point is that each of us speaks a dialect of a language.
It's not the case that some of us speak a language, and others a dialect. That usage is just
propaganda:
"A language is a dialect with an army and a navy." -Uriel Weinreich (famous linguist)

• An expectation: linguistic change is always grammatical change or lexical change. It should re ect
the structure of grammar and the nature of the lexicon.
• Grammatical change should look orderly: new phonological rules entering the language, old
rules reordered, and systematic changes in choices from the "syntactic menu". Yes!
• Uses of this fact:
o Understanding how a language whose history is recorded evolved over time.
o Understanding current linguistic change.

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 Sapir Whorf hypothesis

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis revolves around the idea that language has power and
can control how you see the world. Language is a guide to your reality, structuring
your thoughts. It provides the framework through which you make sense of the world.
Consists of two principles:
1) Linguistic determenism: the language we use to some extent determines the way in
which we view and think about the world around us.
2) Linguistic relativity: people who speak di erent languages perceice and think about
the world quite di erently from on another.
•
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 Seminar

• Find 5 examples that explain Sapir Whorf hypothesis