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The lure of linguistics, and the glamour of grammar

Richard HudsonRoyal Grammar School, Guildford

May 2014

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My main points

• ‘Language’ includes English as well as Foreign

• Linguistics is the science of language• Linguistics can be

– interesting– surprising– useful– difficult

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English: me or I?

• Which would you say?1. You and I could do it together.2. You and me could do it together.

• Why 2?– Bad grammar?

• “The two personal pronouns I and me are often used wrongly, ....” (Oxford Dictionaries)

• And what about between you and I?– New grammar

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Compare German and French

• Du und ich könnten es zusammen tun.– *!Dich und mich könnten es zusammen tun.

• Toi et moi nous pourrions le faire ensemble– *! Tu et je pourrions le faire ensemble.

• So maybe English is moving from German-like to French-like?– Because, like French, it’s lost ‘case’

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Why?

• Everyone:– I did it (not: *Me did it)

• Me: Use I for subjects• You: Use I for subjects, except with and.• Why prefer the more complicated rule?• We don’t know.

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Description or prescription?

• Why not proscribe me and prescribe I?– And proscribe French too?– Languages do change

• nor never none Shall mistress be of it• to: nor shall any ever be mistress of it.

• Better:– Describe what people actually say

• and what others think of it– Try to understand:

• why they say it• why other people object

Shakespeare

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Description to explanation

description

theory

Why? What?

Now for another puzzle about English

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Verb paradigms: Latin

am+o mon+e+o trah+oam+a+s mon+e+s trah+i+sam+a+t mon+e+t trah+i+tam+a+mus mon+e+mus trah+i+musam+a+tis mon+e+tis ??am+a+nt mon+e+nt trah+u+nt

+a+ +e+ +i+

+o

+s

+t

+tis

+mus

+nt

trah+i+tis

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And English: am + n’t = ?

I am I am+n’t are+n’t I?you are you are+n’t are+n’t you?she is she is+n’t is+n’t she?we are we are+n’t are+n’t we?you are you are+n’t are+n’t you?they are they are+n’t are+n’t they?

+n’t

am

is

are

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Why?

Maybe because of our logic?• e.g. hats:

– If sunny, then wear a sun hat– If cold, then wear a woolly hat– But: If both sunny and cold, then ....?

• e.g. language:– too big:They have too big a car. (not: too big car)– plural: They have cars (not: a cars).– But: too big + plural: They have ....?

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The amn’t gap

• Similarly:– If after I, then: am– If before n’t, then: are– But: if both after I and before n’t, then ...?

• NB This is the frontier of research! – So we need

• good description• good arguments• good theory

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Linguistics

• Description is the method– science, not correction

• Explanation is the goal– science, not mere collection

• Includes:– synchrony – a statistic snapshot of language – diachrony – how language changes through

time

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Change: Etymology

• Etymology = study of historical links between words– fascinating!– e.g. Online Etymology Dictionary

• The Oxford English Dictionary– online– launched by linguists in the 19th century

• For example, take glamour.

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The facts

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What's gramarye?

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A complex history

grammar

'writing skill'

learning

wizardry

gramarie

glamour

flashy appeal

'corruption'

mea

ns

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Explanation: wanna

• Try these after He’s the man ...

• Why?– Because want to > wanna only where they

would normally be together– Compare:

• I want to meet him. > I wanna meet him.• I want him to win it. [not: I wanna him win it]

I want to meet. I wanna meet.I want to win it. I wanna win it.

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So what?

• Linguistics studies language by– describing– explaining

• It studies written and spoken language.• It studies words and sentences.• It studies sounds, grammar and meaning.• It studies all languages

– and finds great diversity.

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Diversity: mechanics

• How do you pronounce these?– Put the pizza/pasty in the oven.– I saw/see it.

• What’s going on?– We insert /r/ to separate vowels– when those vowels could historically be

separated by /r/. • Compare Beja

– my PhD language

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Beja: /j/ insertion

• Spoken in the N-E Sudan, not written

tam+ta ‘she ate’ na+ta ‘she spent the night’

tam+an ‘I ate’ na+j+an ‘I spent the night

added to separate /a+a/

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Diversity: organisation

• He likes it consists of– V - a verb likes – S - its subject he– O - its object it

• 6 orders are possible:VSO likes he it VOS likes it he

SVO he likes it OVS it likes he

SOV he it likes OSV it he likes

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Word order typology

• Languages can be classified by preferred word order

• All possibilities have been found• But some are very, very rare: O .. S• The most common is ....

– SOV (e.g. Latin, maybe German)– then SVO (e.g. English)– then VSO (e.g. Welsh)

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Diversity: possible messages

• Accurate translation is impossible– because different languages permit different

messages• e.g. English has gone contrasts with went

– He has gone to lunch vs He went to lunch.– ‘present relevance’

• So languages without this contrast can’t express ‘He has gone to lunch’.

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Verbs of motionTranslate into French (or Spanish): He walked into the room• Not: Il a marché dans la chambre.

• But: Il est entré dans la chambre (en marchant).

manner of movement

direction of movement

direction of movement

manner of movement

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Linguistic relativity

• Different languages allow different messages.

• What effect does this have on the way we think?– Do we live in different mental worlds?– Or do we just communicate differently?

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Applications of linguistics

• In IT:– predictive texting– Google translate

• Speech therapy• Dictionary and grammar writing• Language education

– English, e.g. phonics, grammar– Foreign, e.g. course books

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The difficulty of linguistics

• Language is complex– Arguably, the most complex structure in the

universe!• So we desperately need a good theory

– But it’s hard to build a theory for such a complex object

• But the challenge is rewarding.

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The Linguistics Olympiad

• The UK Linguistics Olympiad is like the Maths Challenge and Olympiad– except that it’s all about language

• Three levels– the Advanced level selects winners for

• Round 2 (residential)• the UK team to the International Linguistics

Olympiad

• Here’s a sample problem.

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Ulwa (Nicaragua)

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Zooming in on Ulwa

-ni = "our (inc)"

-ma = "your (sing)"

-kana = "their"

-mana = "your (plur)"

'infix'suffix

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What’s going on in Ulwa?

• Why does a ‘possessive’ affix – sometimes appear at the end of a word, – and sometimes in the middle?

• The suffix follows the first long syllable– VV: diimuih + kana = diikanamuih – VVC: gaad + ni = gaadni

• Otherwise it follows the second syllable– CVCV: bilam + kana = bilamkana

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Why not try it out?

• Try the Linguistics Olympiad– See www.uklo.org for (a lot) more.

• Try Linguistics for your degree– on its own or with other subjects.

• Linguistics combines – the human interest of human language– the rigour of mathematics– the breadth of area studies– the usefulness of engineering– the challenge of sudoku and cross-word puzzles.