Lecture 1

 Course preliminaries
 Introduction

2
Intended learning outcomes
 To Describe key concepts and terminologies in studies
on language, and related interdisciplinary fields.
 To Compare critically within and between linguistic
communities and cultures for patterns in language use.
 To Critically discuss major issues concerning the
interrelationship between language, cognition, and
society.
 To Discover and explain language-related phenomena in
daily life.
 To Design one’s own methodology to study
individual/community’s perception of the world through
languages.
3
Suggested readings/references
 Yule, George. The Study of Language. Cambridge
University Press. (E-book available via CityU library).
 Holmes, J. 2008. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics.
Pearson Education Limited. (E-book available via CityU
library)
 Carroll, W. David. 2008. Psychology of Language.
Thomas Higher Education.
 Deutscher, Guy. 2010. Through the Language Glass.
Arrow Books.
 羅常培，1989，《語言與文化》。北京：語文出版社。
 Journal articles and book chapters on relevant topics to be
posted on Canvas.
4
[Link]
africa/gauteng/johannesburg/attractions/constitution-hill/a/poi-
sig/417056/355617
MTR station,
Kowloon Tong

6
Language
 Why studying language?
 What is language?
◼ A system
◼ Creativity
◼ Language diversity
◼ Social functions

7
(English) Word of the Year
age bait is a compound of
the words rage, meaning
a violent outburst of
anger, and bait, an
attractive morsel of food.
Both terms are well-
established in English and
date back to Middle
English times.

[Link]
slop as “digital content of low quality that is produced
usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.”
[Link]
 (English) Word of the Year
WOTY blog

[Link]
 Some Words of Previous Years
[Link]
Image result for nomophobia word of year

2015

Selfie: 2013 by Oxford Dictionary

They
‘non-binary’ 2022 ‘Goblin mode’

2019 by Merriam-Webster
Words that resonate with the world

Oxford Word of the Year: defining the past 20 years, 1 October

2024. retrieved from OUP website at
[Link] 12
defining-the-past-20-years/
 Some Buzzwords
 佛系 SHIP, 磕CP
emo

Geilivable
Chok様

Picture downloaded from

[Link]
%9A%E4%BA%BA%E7%94%A8sticker-bobby-
%E7%95%B6%E5%B9%B4%E6%86%91%E4%BD%9B%E7%B3%BB%E5%9C%96%E7%88%86%E7%B4%85 13
Chinese character of the Year
Japan: Annual polls run by the Japan Kanji
Aptitude Testing Foundation based on
votes cast by the general public

Malaysia 2025: Tax;

[Link]

[Link]
 Topics
◼ The relation between world views and our language
◼ The influence of speech on socialization and
personal relationships
◼ The interaction of linguistic and social communities
◼ The development of the linguistic abilities
 Language

Nature, Structure, Function

What is language?
 “…[A] vehicle of thought, a system of expression
that mediates the transfer of thought from one
person to another.”
Finegan & Besnier, Language: Its Structure and Use, 1989:2)
 [A] system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of
which a social group co-operates.
Bloch & Trager. Outline of linguistic analysis. Baltimore:
Linguistic Society of America, 1942.
 “… [W]hat some might call the “human essence,”
the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as
we know, unique to man.”
21
Chomsky, Language and Mind, 2006:88
 A command of the language is an indispensable
means of obtaining accurate and thorough
knowledge [of the culture that is being studies],
because much information can be gained by
listening to conversations of the natives and by
taking part in their daily life, which to the
observer who has no command of the language,
will remain entirely inaccessible.

◼ Boas, F., Handbook of American Indian Languages,

1911:60
Language, Culture, Human
 In the course of their cultural evolution during
the past million years, humans were
immeasurably aided by their developing of an
effective means of communication, the most
remarkable and crucial component of which is
human language.
 Salzman, Z., Language, Culture, and Society: an
Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology, 2004:3

◼ 心生而言立，言立而文明，自然之道也。
 刘勰，文心雕龍，around AD500.
Language-R-Us

“In many ways the study of language is

like the study of life itself.”

Bolton,W.F., “Language: An Introduction” Language: Readings in

Language and Culture. Eds. Clark, et. al. New York: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 1998. 61-72
So, we study…
 Language and linguistics (science of human
language; scientific study of human language)
 Language and cognition, culture, society,
psychology, anthropology

 First of all, some linguistic facts of life.

The many faces of language
Languages Change
 Old English
Ic þis giedd wrece bi me ful geomorre,
minre sylfre sið. Ic þæt secgan mæg,
hwæt ic yrmþa gebad, siþþan ic up weox,
niwes oþþe ealdes, no ma þonne nu.
 From “The Wife’s Lament” (before 1072)
In contemporary English
Ic þis giedd wrece bi me ful geomorre,
I tell this poem about myself, full of sorrow

minre sylfre sið. Ic þæt secgan mæg,

in my own journey. I can say this,

hwæt ic yrmþa gebad, siþþan ic up weox,

for I miserably endured after I grew up,

niwes oþþe ealdes, no ma þonne nu.

new or old, never more than now.
Ancient Chinese
 禮之用，和為貴；先王之道，斯為美，小大由之。 有所不行
，知和而和，不以禮節之，亦不可行也。《論語-學而第一》

 禮的運用，貴在能和。先王傳下來的道，以禮為 最美好，不
論小事大事都是由此而行。但也有行 不通之處，這個時候如
果只知道要『和』，一意 孤行地用『和』，不用『禮』來節
制，也是不行 的。
The Analects by Confucius, Translated by James Legge.
The philosopher You said, "In practicing the rules of propriety, a
natural ease is to be prized. In the ways prescribed by the ancient
kings, this is the excellent quality, and in things small and great we
follow them. Yet it is not to be observed in all cases. If one, knowing
how such ease should be prized, manifests it, without regulating it
by the rules of propriety, this likewise is not to be done.“
Variations: sounds
 Regional variations
 English
◼ coupon, due, news, duke
◼ pass, four

 Contextual variations (language intrinsic)

 Chinese: tones
◼ Mandarin: 老蒋好久没买酒
◼ Cantonese: 姨丈, 阿姨; 師奶, 牛奶
 night or light ?
o /l/ : alveolar lateral, side
branches
o /n/: alveolar nasal, nasal cavity

Pictures retrieved from [Link]

[Link]
Variations: word meaning
 Over time
◼ hot, nice
◼ 逗比，喪
 Across space
◼ soft drinks: a map of soda, coke, pop
◼ 菠蘿、鳳梨
◼ 窩心
USA Map of soda
[Link]
Variations: sentences
 English
◼ We ain’t never had no trouble about
none of us pullin’ out no knife.
 Cantonese
◼ 金都茶餐廳，英文叫CAN DO……老板阿杜過幾
年大可 以返東莞鄉下買幢西班牙式洋樓，養只
番狗……行行 企企嘆世界聽譚詠麟李克勤鋤大
弟食野味睇無線拍蚊 過世。
(香港三部曲之金都茶餐廳, 陳冠中)
The linguistics system
The Linguistic System
 Sounds: Phonetics and
Phonology
 Structures and
meanings: Morphology,
Semantics, Syntax,
 Functions and uses:
Pragmatics

Linguistics: An Introduction: A New Introduction

(1995). Jean Aitchinson. Hachette: Hodder &
Stoughton.
[Link]
f_linguistic_structure.svg
Phonetics and Phonology
 Speech sounds and sound systems
◼ How are speech sounds produced and perceived
◼ What are the physical properties of speech sounds
◼ How are sounds organized in languages
Morphology
 Word: structure and meaning
◼ What components encode meaning
◼ How are words formed…
 scvrnkls
 Antidisestablishmentarianism
 scvrnkls
 Antidisestablishmentarianism
Homework
 Decipher this word
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
The word in the news
“Boy, 16, uses ‘longest word’ in Parliament”, 31 July 2017,
[Link]

 the longest word in English?

Now, decipher this

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
Syntax
Phrases, sentences
How are phrases formed
What are the orders of words
How do we judge on grammaticality…
Syntax of Yoda
 Extended reading
1. George Pullum:
[Link]
elog/archives/[Link]

2. Murray Gell-Mann and Merritt

Ruhlen (2011).
The origin and evolution of word
order. PNAS October 18,
2011 108 (42) 17290-
17295; [Link]
113716108

Picture download from [Link]

Languages: Same or Different
 Universals
A rose by any other name
would smell as sweet.

 Variations:

[Link]
com/home#/sounds-all-
around/
More linguistic facts of life
Language is not everywhere equivalent in communicative
role and social values…[and] no normal person, and no
normal community is limited in repertoire to a single variety
of [style], to an unchanging monotony which would preclude
the possibility of indicating respect, insolence, mock-
seriousenes, humor, role-distance, etc., by switching from
one code variety to another.

Hymes, D., 1967, Models of language and social settings, Journal of Social
issues, 23(2):9.
Why do we say the same thing in
different ways?
❑ Language enables alternative ways

❑ Different choices entail useful non-linguistic

information of the speaker and/or the listener

❑ Linguistic variation is intrinsic to all spoken

language at every level