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42 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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8 basic factors necessary for words to come about: PEOPLE must be able to:
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1. Interact with one another
2. Interact in parallel non-verbal ways (e.g., gazing, pointing) 3. Conceptualize reality 4. Recognize and reproduce words 5. Associate words and meanings |
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8 basic factors necessary for words to come about : COMMUNITY must have:
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6. Sufficient group stability, sufficient set of encounters (individuals remain within the group long enough)
7. Initial group size not too large, need enough encounters between the same individuals 8. Sufficient environment stability & different degrees of complexity |
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When?
H. ergaster (1.8-1.2 mya) |
Rudiments of language beginning???
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When?
H. heidelbergensis (500-200kya) (Neanderthal??) |
Rapid advancement in culture
Rapid expansion Beginnings of language probable |
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When?
Early H. sapiens (200-10kya) |
Expansion out of Africa replacing all other populations
Clearly language in place |
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Origins
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Social/cognitive? (Pinker)
Survival? (Bickerton) Protolanguage came first limited vocabulary little or no combinations of words (no grammar) may have continued for a long time |
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What might the first words have sounded like???
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There may have been onomatopoeia
May have been iconic words??? May have been certain basic sound combinations |
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Growth of Nomenclature
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They claim that things are first named at the generic level (such as Oak), next the specific (White Oak) and life-form levels (Tree), then varietal and intermediate levels (Swamp White Oak), and lastly, a unique beginner (Plants).
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Level 0(5) Unique beginner
Level 1 Life-form Level 2 Generic Level 3 Specific Level 4 varietal |
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Tzeltal Example
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“deer” animal of great salience
sheep introduced, called “cotton deer” economic value of sheep increased sheep re-labeled “deer” and the original deer was re-labeled “wild deer” |
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Typical Progression of Color Terms
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dark-cool & light-warm red-warm
yellow or green green or yellow blue brown purple, pink, orange, gray |
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Earliest words probably...
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at generic level
Content words (not grammatical words) Survival Social |
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Possible proto-language examples
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Me food
You home No fire Food there Tools good Hide here Attack there |
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Building Complexity
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“grammar”
Syntax Morphology |
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Morphology
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minimal units of meaning & how they combine into words
Segments that build words May stand alone (free), or only occur with other morphemes (bound) |
Example:
root words word prefixes & suffixes (plural, past tense…) |
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Syntax
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Structure that builds sentences, utterances
Putting words together in a pattern There are rules for how we put words together. |
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Generativity
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As long as we follow the rules, we can generate an infinite number of sentences that sound ok
This is called GENERATIVITY. Unlimited new utterances, sentences, words in combination that have never been heard before, but still grammatically ok |
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Recursion
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We can make sentences/utterances longer
This process is called RECURSION. Take any sentence, and we can add on to it. And add on to it, and on to it. |
The cat with the long skinny tail who chased the ferret of my friend who hates cats is no longer willing to eat the cat food that I make the effort to buy at the specialized pet store where it is much more expensive than at the grocery store.
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Duality of Patterning
(phonology, morphology, syntax) |
Two levels of rule-governed combinations:
Meaningless elements (phonology, contributes to meaning) Meaningful elements (words, phrases – morphology, syntax) |
Hominids developed the use of arbitrary sounds to mean something, and to combine meaningful units in a generative way. The ability to think, and to produce and perceive complex patterns of sound, worked together.
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FUN FACT!
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Language is always changing
All languages change over time Enough change in any particular group of speakers, their language becomes separate from the parent language |
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Methods of Change
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Gradual change through time within a language(tendency for elaboration)
Change from cultural contact(borrow culture, borrow words for it) |
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Types of Change
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sound (phonetics, phonology)
form (morphology, syntax) meaning (semantics) Inter-related |
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Sound Changes
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First, change occurs in certain contexts or situations, dialects
Then, change may become permanent alteration |
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1. Assimilation
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Latin inpossibilis becomes English impossible
Easier to say, less effort, happens naturally if speaking quickly or carelessly (principle of least effort) |
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2. Weakening of Consonants
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Latin maturos “mature”
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Where did tones (as in Chinese languages) come from?
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From sound change.
Final consonant weakened, dropped But vowel retained tone as a remnant of that sound |
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6. Other Sound Changes
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metathesis (“ask” vs. “aks”)
“cot” “caught” distinction John Sean Ron Dawn |
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Other types of sound changes (3. 4. & 5.)
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3. Creation of New Phonemes (through assimilation/weakening)
4. Weakening of Vowels 5. Sound Shifts |
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Form Changes
1. Grammaticalization Grammatical Words Develop from Content Words |
Desemanticization (bleaching)
loss of meaning Decategorialization (downgrading) Loss of categorical properties Erosion (phonetic reduction) Loss of phonetic substance |
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Grammaticalization Example
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I am going to have salmon for dinner.
I’m gonna… I’m’na… Then someday in the future, future tense might be: mna + verb |
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Form Change
2. Rebracketing or Re-analysis |
Boundaries between words are moved
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a nother an other
a norange an orange a nectarine *an ectarine an idiot *a nidiot |
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Form Change
3. Creation of Irregular Forms |
Old rules can drop, examples become irregulars, as in vowel change rule in plural
foot-feet mouse-mice goose-geese |
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Form Change
4. Analogy a. Back Formation |
A worker works, so a burglar burgles
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Form Change
4. Analogy b. False Analogy (lot of bibblebabble) |
OE “iegland” becomes Eng. “island”
(s comes from analogy with Latin “insula”) Fr. “dette” to ME “dette” to Eng. “debt” (b comes from Latin “debitum”) Vocal cords (correct) to vocal chords (incorrect) |
shall should
will would can could |
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Form Change
4c. Regularization of Forms Change by Analogy |
past tense of “climb” used to be “clomb”
changed to “climbed” by analogy to other verbs such as “rhyme, rhymed” |
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Form Change
5. Syntax Word Order Change |
English used to be SOV (Subject Object Verb), now SVO
with this ring I thee wed |
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Semantic Change (Changes in Meaning)
1.Semantic Drift Change in meaning over time |
telephone game – end product very different, but each change is logical
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Latin “bead” (prayer)
Keep track of prayers with small balls on a string bead came to mean the small balls |
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2. Semantic Narrowing: Reduction of Meaning
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Hound (old meaning): any dog
Hound (reduced meaning): specific breeds Meat (old meaning): all food Meat(reduced meaning): animal flesh |
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3. Semantic Broadening: Extension of Meaning
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Nuke(old meaning): bomb
Nuke(extended meaning): wreck, destroy, microwave Bird(old meaning): baby bird Bird(extended meaning): birds in general |
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Form change
6. Tabu Words (curse words) |
Used to be acceptable, had a specific meaning, nothing tabu
Came to mean something tabu (in conversation) Over time, impact wears off New curse words are developed |
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Form change
7. Borrowings |
kimono from Japanese
moccasin from Native American banana from Spanish |
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8. New Words
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acronyms
laser, radar, .. blending smog (smoke + fog) clipping exam (examination) taxi or cab (taxi cab, from taximeter cabriolet) |
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Adding New Words, cont.
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coinage-
newly created pooch, snob, Kodak conversion- noun to verb, verb to noun, etc. laugh, run, google,… eponymy – named after people ohm, Hertz, watt, … |
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