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What is Linguistics?
The scientific study of language.
What is Language?
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A living language is a language which is used by a community of native speakers; a dead language is any language which is not used by a community of native speakers.
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A first language (also native language, mother tongue, arterial language, or L1) is the language or are the languages a person has learned from birth or within the critical period.
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• Language is a means of communication.
What is language?
Tool, device, …
Traffic signs are a means of communication since they are used to transmit information.
Emoticons are a means of communication since they are used to transmit information.
Icons are a means of communication since they are used to transmit information.
billboards are a means of communication since they are used to transmit information.
13 Design features
Charles Hocketts (1960) “The Origin of Speech”
1- Pervasiveness Language is everywhere in society.
Think about two social contexts where humans do not use language at all! Wedding party? court? journalism? art? education? Teaching linguistics?
2- generativityThe three green tall queens who put on penguins on By using language we can produce sentences we have never produced before and understand sentences we have never heard before.
their mouth-less heads looked at me with a hateful smile.
Tammnt n imi mla gis isafarn ‌ Llah ur sar iTTaDn yan tasa ns Se3di bllalla mulat lqefTan m3awna 3zrayl 3la zzman
3creativity There is no “longest sentence�!
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Girl The girl The smart girl The smart girl with the green scarf The smart girl with the green scarf who hates boys 6. The smart girl with the green scarf who hates boys but loves Fred. 7. The smart girl with the green scarf who hates boys but loves Fred did not make it in the exam.
4- mental depth Language is deeply entrenched in our minds
1. Sounds 2. rules
5- Universality 1. 2. 3.
All communities have a language.. All languages are equally rich and complex. There was no time when langue was simple.
6- displacement the capability of language to communicate about things that are not immediately present (spatially or temporally)