Linguistics_Summary

People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Teacher Training School of Constantine Distance Training Course for Middle School Teachers In Linguistics Prepared by: S.BOULMERKA Academic Year: 2007- 2008 Department of Distant Training Linguistcics 3rd Year General Introduction This section introduces some important fields in linguistics. These are: Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which can be theoretical or applied. Someone who engages in this study is called a linguist. Theoretical (or general) linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields, such as the study of language structure (grammar) and meaning (semantics). The study of grammar encompasses morphology (formation and alteration of word) and syntax (the rules that determine the way words combine into phrases and sentences). Also a part of this field are phonology, the study of sound systems and abstract sound units, and phonetics, which is concerned with the actual properties of speech sounds (phones), non-speech sounds, and how they are produced and perceive. Linguistics compares languages (comparative linguistics) and explores their histories, in order to find universal properties of language and to account for its development and origins (historical linguistics). Applied linguistics puts linguistic theories into practice in areas such as foreign language teaching, speech therapy, translation and speech pathology Linguists may specialize in some subpart of the linguistic structure, which can be arranged in the following terms, from sound to meaning: Phonetics, the study of the physical aspects of sounds of human language Phonology, the study of patterns of a language's sounds Morphology, the study of the internal structure of words Syntax, the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences Semantics, the study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics) and fixed word combinations (phraseology), and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences Pragmatics, the study of how utterances are used (literally, figuratively, or otherwise) in communicative acts Discourse analysis, the analysis of language use in texts (spoken or written ) Many linguists would agree that the divisions overlap considerably, but the independent significance of each of these areas is not universally acknowledged. Regardless of any particular linguist's position, each area has core concepts that foster significant scholarly inquiry and research. Intersecting with these domains are fields arranged around the kind of external factors that are considered. For example Stylistics, the study of linguistic factors that place a discourse in context Developmental linguistics, the study of the development of linguistic ability in an individual, particularly the acquisition of language in childhood Historical linguistics or Diachronic linguistics, the study of language change Evolutionary linguistics, the study of the origin and subsequent development of language Psycholinguistics, the study of the cognitive processes and representations underlying language use Sociolinguistics, the study of social patterns of linguistic variability Clinical linguistics, the application of linguistic theory to the area of Speech-Language Pathology Neurolinguistics, the study of the brain networks that underlie grammar and communication Biolinguistics, the study of natural as well as human taught communication systems in animals compared to human language Computational linguistics, the study of computational implementations of linguistic structures Applied linguistics, the study of language related issues applied in every day life, notably language policies and language education . I- SOCIOLINGUISTICS Introduction This chapter introduces an important field in linguistics which is sociolinguitics . It deals with the realtionships between language and society.It also provides examples of the different linguistic variation : dialect, diglossia, pidgin, and the relation between language variation and ethnicity, nationalism, social status, social solidarity, sex,...etc I.1 Sociolinguistics and linguistics In general terms, sociolinguistics may be defined as the study of language in relation to society. It has become a thriving area within linguistics since 1960s, and the father of sociolinguistics is claimed to be William Labov. (William Labov (born December 4, 1927) is a professor in the linguistics department of the University of Pennsylvania. He is widely regarded as the founder of the discipline of variationist sociolinguistics and pursues research in sociolinguistics, language change, and dialectology). Sociolinguistics studies issues like accents, dialects, language change, age, gender, etchnicity, social context, pidgins and creoles, language planning,code-switching and code-mixing etc. (Bloomer&Trott:1988). I.2 SOME USEFUL DEFINITIONS I.2.1 Definition of Society A society is a grouping of individuals, which is characterized by common interests and may have distinctive culture and institutions. In a society, members can be from a different ethnic group. A "Society" may refer to a particular people, such as the Nuer (The Nuer are a confederation of tribes located in Southern Sudan and western Ethiopia. Collectively, the Nuer form one of the largest ethnic groups in East Africa. They are a pastoral peoplewho rely on cattle for almost every aspect of their daily lives) to nation state, such as Switzerland, or to a broader cultural group, such as a Western society. Society can also refer to an organized group of people associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes I.2.2 Definition of Social class IT refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. Anthropologists, historians and sociologists identify class as universal, although what determines class varies widely from one society to another. Even within a society, different people or groups may have very different ideas about what makes one "high" or "low" in the hierarchy. The most basic class distinction between the two groups is between the powerful and the powerless. Social classes with more power usually subordinate classes with less power, while attempting to cement their own power positions in society. Social classes with a great deal of power are usually viewed as elites, at least within their own societies. In the simplest societies, power is closely linked to the ability to assert one's status through physical strength; thus age, gender, and physical health are often common delineators of class in rudimentary tribes. As societies expand and become more complex, economic power replaces physical power as the defender of the class status quo, so that one's class is determined largely by: -Occupation ( profession) ,education ( teaching and learnng specific skills) , qualifications (professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation (often called simply certification or qualification) that assure that the person is qualified to perform a job or task. -income:personal, household and per capita wealth or net worth, including the ownership of land, property, means of production, … Those who can attain a position of power in a society will often adopt distinctive lifestyles to emphasize their prestige and to further rank themselves within the powerful class. Often the adoption of these stylistic traits are as important as one's wealth in determining class status, at least at the higher levels: costume and grooming -manners and cultural refinement. For example, there is a notion of high and low classes with a distinction between bourgeois tastes and sensitivities and the working class tastes and sensitivities. -political standing vis-à-vis the church, government, and/or social clubs, as well as the use of honorary titles -reputation of honor or disgrace -language : the distinction between elaborate code, which is seen as a criterion for "upper-class", and the restricted code, which is associated with "lower classes" Finally, fluid notions such as race can have widely varying degrees of influence on class standing. Having characteristics of a particular ethnic group may improve one's class status in many societies. However, what is considered "racially superior" in one society can often be exactly the opposite in another. I.2.3 Speech community is a concept in sociolinguistics that describes a more or less discrete group of people who use language in a unique and mutually accepted way among themselves.Speech communities can be members of a profession with a specialized jargon distinct social groups like high school students , or even tight-knit groups like families and friends. In addition, online and other mediated communities, such as many internet forums , often constitute speech communities. Members of speech communities will often develop slang or jargon to serve the group's special purposes and priorities. I.3 Varieties of Language Dear student. Before we review various aspects of language variation in more detail, I want to make sure you have got some basic terms and concepts down: I.3.1 SOME IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGY 1-Language variety: This is a general term that may be used at a number of levels. So, we can use the term to distinguish between English and French, but we can also use the term to distinguish between two varieties of English, such as New York City English vs. Appalachian English 2-Internal Variation: the property of languages having different ways of expressing the same meaning. Importantly, this refers to within language, not across language, differences. An example of internal variation in English is "GIVE" vs. "GIVES". 3-Dialect: This is a complex and often misunderstood concept. For linguists, a dialect is the collection of attributes (phonetic, phonological, syntactic, morphological, semantic) that make one group of speakers noticeably different from another group of speakers of the same language. I .3.2 COMMON SOURCES OF MISUNDERSTANDING 1- DIALECT is NOT a negative term for linguists. Very often, for example, we hear people refer to non-standard varieties of English as "dialects", usually to say something bad about the non-standard variety (and thus about the people who speak it). But, the term dialect refers to ANY variety of a language. Thus, by definition, we all speak a dialect of our native language. 2- DIALECT is NOT synonymous with accent. Accent is only a part of dialectal variation. Non-linguists often think accents define a dialect (or that accents alone identify people as non-native or foreign language speakers). Also, non-linguists tend to think that it's always the "other" people that have "an accent". So, what is "accent"' 3- ACCENT: This term refers to phonological variation, i.e. variation in pronunciation Thus, if we talk about a Southern Accent, we're talking about a generalized property of English pronunciation in the Southern part of the US. But, Southern dialects have more than particular phonological properties .A person is said to have an Oxford accent when we find in his speech certain phonological characteristics related to English spoken in that town. The term accent is also used to refer to some ,foreign, non –native features in the speech of a person- usually a foreigner speaking a second language. Accent is thus about pronunciation, while dialect is a broader term encompassing syntactic, morphological, and semantic properties as well. A final note on accent. WE ALL HAVE ONE! There is no such thing as a person who speaks without an accent. In sum, a dialect is a particular variety of a language, and we all have a dialect. Accent refers to the phonology of a given dialect. Since we all have a dialect, we all have an accent. -A language, say English, is really a collection of dialects. -A dialect is a particular variety of a language that differs noticeably from the variety or varieties of the same language spoken by another group or groups of people. -Dialects themselves are collections of idiolects (and thus so are languages). I.3.3 Standard and Non-Standard dialects A standard dialect (also known as a standardized dialect or "standard language") is a dialect that is supported by institutions. Such institutional support may include government recognition or designation; presentation as being the "correct" form of a language in schools; published grammars, dictionaries, and textbooks that set forth a "correct" spoken and written form; and an extensive formal literature that employs that dialect (prose, poetry, non-fiction, etc.). There may be multiple standard dialects associated with a language. For example, Standard British EnglishBritish English (BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere in the Anglophone world. British English encompasses the varieties of English used within the UK, including those in England; Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Some may also use the term more widely, to include other forms such as Hiberno-English (spoken in Ireland. In daily circumstances, most Britons — the majority of whom speak English as either a first or a second language — consider that they just speak "English", rather than "British English" specifically; the term "British English" is used only when necessary to distinguish it from other forms of English Standard British English and Standard Indian English may all be said to be standard dialects of the English language. A nonstandard dialect, like a standard dialect, has a complete vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, but is not the beneficiary of institutional support. I.3.4 Regional Dialect A regional dialect is not a distinct language but a variety of a language spoken in a particular area of a country. Some regional dialects have been given traditional names which mark them out as being significantly different from standard varieties spoken in the same place. Some examples are 'Hillbilly English' (from the Appalachians in the USA) and 'Geordie' (from Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK). For example the differences between American and British English are on many levels: Pronunciation –e.g. Am E / Kar/ and Br E / ka/ for car ; Lexis-e.g.AmE gas and BRE petrol; morphology – AmE dove and BrE dived as the past form of dive ; and syntax – e.g. AmE I don’t have a car and BrE I have not a car. I.3.5 Minority Dialect Sometimes members of a particular minority ethnic group have their own variety which they use as a marker of identity, usually alongside a standard variety. This is called a minority dialect. Examples are African American Vernacular English in the USA, London Jamaican in Britain, and Aboriginal English in Australia. I.3.6 Indigenized variety: Indigenized varieties are spoken mainly as second languages in ex-colonies with multilingual populations. The differences from the standard variety may be linked to English proficiency, or may be part of a range of varieties used to express identity. For example, 'Singlish' (spoken in Singapore) is a variety very different from standard English, and there are many other varieties of English used in India. I.3.7 Social Varieties Another kind of language variation is linked to the different social classes in the society( speech community). Members within the same speech community have differences in their linguistic behaviour determined by the social group or social class they belong to. Factors such religion ,cultural background education, profession place of residence , financial wealth and others ( see social class above '''' ) determine people’s social position and differentiation end thus the way they speak. I.3.8 Variation According to the Use of Language 1-Registers (or diatypes): the specialised vocabulary and/or grammar of certain activities or professions ( professional language) .A register is a subset of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, an English speaker may adhere more closely to prescribed grammar , pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal (e.g. "walking", not "walkin'") and refrain from using the word "ain't " when speaking in a formal setting, but the same person could violate all of these prescriptions in an informal setting. The term was first used by the linguist Thomas Bertram Reid in 1956, and brought into general currency in the 1960s by a group of linguists who wanted to distinguish between variations in language according to the user (defined by variables such as social background, geography, sex and age), and variations according to use, "in the sense that each speaker has a range of varieties and chooses between them at different times" (Halliday et al, 1964). The focus is on the way language is used in particular situations, such as legalese or motherese, (Baby talk, motherese, parentese or child-directed speech is a non-standard form of speech used by adults in talking to toddlers and infants. It is usually delivered with a "cooing" pattern of intonation different from that of normal adult speech: high in pitch, with many glissando variations that are more pronounced than those of normal speech. Baby talk is also characterized by the shortening and simplifying of words ) and the language of a biology research lab. Halliday (1964) identifies three variables that determine register: field (the subject matter of the discourse), tenor (the participants and their relationships) and mode (the channel of communication, e.g. spoken or written). Any or all of the elements of language may vary in different registers — vocabulary , syntax, phonology, morphology, pragmatic rules or different paralinguistic features such as pitch, volume and intonation in spoken English, or size and speed of sign production in a sign language. Registers often also have non-linguistic prescriptions such as appropriate dress codes, body language, and proximity of speakers to one another 2-Stylistics is the study of varieties of language whose properties position that language in context. For example, the language of advertising, politics, religion, individual authors, etc., or the language of a period in time, all belong in a particular situation. In other words, they all have ‘place’. Stylistics also attempts to establish principles capable of explaining the particular choices made by individuals and social groups in their use of language, such as socialisation, the production and reception of meaning , critical discourse analysis and literary criticism. Other features of stylistics include the use of dialogue, including regional accents and people’s dialects , descriptive language, the use of grammar , such as the active voice or passive voice, the distribution of sentence lengths, the use of particular language registers, etc. I.3.9 Other Examples of Language Varieties 1-Idiolect: An idiolect is simply the technical term we use to refer to the variety of language spoken by each individual speaker of the language. Just as there is variation among groups of speakers of a language, there is variation from speaker to speaker. No two speakers of a language speak identically. Each speaks her or his own particular variety of that language. Each thus speaks her or his own idiolect. 2-Idiom is a term neutral to the dialect–language distinction and is used to refer to the studied communicative system (that could be called either a dialect or a language) when its status with respect to this distinction is irrelevant (thus it is a synonym to language the more general sense); 3-sociolects: varieties spoken by socially defined speech communities . It is associated with a particular social class 4-Standard language :standardized for education and public performance . 5-Ethnolects: for an ethnic group 6-Ecolect: an idiolect adopted by a household Note:Varieties such as dialects, idiolects, and sociolects can be distinguished not only by their vocabulary, but also by differences in grammar, phonology and prosody. I.4 Varieties in Contact ( Mixture of varieties) Whenever two languages or two language varieties exist in the same speech community side by side, many important matters related to their functions ,their relation to each other, to their seperation or mixture evolve; which involve the topics of diglossia, bilingualism, code switching, pidgins and creoles. I.4.1 Diglossia diglossia is a situation where, in a given society, there are two (often) closely-related languages, one of high prestige, which is generally used by the government and in formal texts, and one of low prestige, which is usually the spoken vernacular tongue. (Vernacular refers to the native language of a country or locality. it is used to describe local languages as opposed to linguae francae( lingua franca is any language widely used beyond the population of its native speakers ), official standards or global languages. It is sometimes applied to nonstandard dialects of a global language.For instance: in Western Europe up until the 17th century, most scholarly work was written in Latin, so works written in a native language (such as Italian or German) were said to be in the vernacular) The high-prestige language tends to be the more formalised, and its forms and vocabulary often 'filter down' into the vernacular, though often in a Fergusson in 1959 who gave it the folowing defintion ” diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which,in addition to the primary dialects of the language ( which may include a standard or regional standards), there is a very divergent, highly codified ( often grammatically more complex) variety , the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another speech community, which is learnrd largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes, but is not used by any sector of the community for ordinary conversation” There are few cases of the diglossic situation in the world. We may find it in Switzerland ( standard German and Swiss German), in Haiti ( Standard French and Haitian creole). The best example of diglossia is the linguistic situation in the Arab world. In each Arab- speaking community, there are two varieties of Arabic in use:Standard Arabic and a spoken colloquial.In each diglossic situation there is a High variety ( Standard Arabic)and a Low variety (Spoken colloquial). I.4.2 Bilingualism and Multigualism The term bilingualism( sometimes also referred to as multigualism) can refer to phenomena regarding an individual speaker who uses two or more languages, a community of speakers where two or more languages are used, or between speakers of different languages. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers(monoglottism from(Greek monos, "alone, solitary", + glotta, "tongue, language") or, more commonly, monolingualism or unilingualism is the condition of being able to speak only a single language I.4 2.1 Multilingualism within an individual A multilingual person, in the broadest definition, is anyone who can communicate in more than one language, be it active (through speaking and writing) or passive (through listening and reading). More specifically, the terms bilingual and trilingual are used to describe comparable situations in which two or three languages are involved, respectively. Multilingualism could be rigidly defined as being native-like in two or more languages. It could also be loosely defined as being less than native-like but still able to communicate in two or more languages. Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the so-called first language (L1). First languages (sometimes also referred to as mother tongue) are acquired without formal education, by mechanisms heavily disputed. Children acquiring two first languages since birth are called simultaneous bilinguals. Even in the case of simultaneous bilinguals one language usually dominates over the other. This kind of bilingualism is most likely to occur when a child is raised by bilingual parents in a predominantly monolingual environment. I.4.3 Distinction between Bilingualism and Diglossia It is important to note that "diglossia" and "bilingualism/multilingualism" refer to different, although similar, sociolinguistic situations. Diglossia is the term usually applied to the sociolinguistic situation in much of the Arabic-speaking world. In these countries, there are two FORMS OF THE SAME LANGUAGE (conventionally called "High" and "Low") that are used in different situations. The "High" form (called "Modern Standard Arabic") is normally used in FORMAL situations, such as writing, political speeches, university lectures, television news, etc. The "Low" form (referred to as "dialects," ) is used in INFORMAL situations, such as conversations, etc. It is useful to think of the language situation as it applies to Arabic as being on a continuum. At one end of this continuum is the "High" form, i.e., Modern Standard Arabic, and at the other lies the "Low" form, i.e., the various dialects. A person's place on this continuum would most likely be somewhere between these two poles, for it is unlikely that they would use pure Modern Standard or a colloquial in a given setting. The choice on which form, or code, to use would depend on many factors, including speaker, conversation, topic, and setting. On the other hand, bilingualism is the term more conventionally used to describe the sociolinguistic situation in Belgium and Switzerland (multilingualism for Switzerland's 4 languages). The key difference is that in a bilingual situation certain INDIVIDUALS (communities, etc.) will use Language A, while other INDIVIDUALS (communities, etc.) will use Language B, but EVERYONE will use the SAME LANGUAGE for all situations -- writing, job interviews, dinner table chats, etc. That's the IDEAL. In practice, it gets much messier, and it is best to think of these terms as representing ends of a continuum--actual societies fit somewhere along connecting these two poles. In the American Southwest, for instance, Spanish and English coexist in a situation of bilingualism, but there are some important diglossic elements: in many cases English is used for high-prestige, formal contexts of speech, while Spanish is used primarily in the home, in conversations among good friends, etc. Spanish thus becomes the "Low" form and English the "High" form. I.4.4 Code switching (code mixing) Speakers of more than one language (e.g., bilinguals) are known for their ability to code-switch or mix their languages during communication. This phenomenon occurs when bilinguals substitute a word or phrase from one language with a phrase or word from another language. To illustrate, consider the sentence, (1) I want a motorcycle VERDE. In this sentence, the English word “green” is replaced with its Spanish equivalent. A noteworthy aspect of sentence (1) above is that the Spanish adjective “verde” follows a grammatical rule that is observed by most bilingual speakers that code-switch. Thus, according to the specific grammatical rule-governing sentence (1) above, sentence (2) I want a VERDE motorcycle would be incorrect because language switching can occur between an adjective and a noun, only if the adjective is placed according to the rules of the language of the adjective. In this case, the adjective is in Spanish; therefore, the adjective must follow the Spanish grammatical rule that states that the noun must precede the adjective. Traditionally, code-switching has been viewed as a strategy to compensate for diminished language proficiency. The premise behind this theory is that bilinguals code-switch because they do not know either language completely. This argument is also known as semi-lingualism, which underscores the notion that bilinguals “almost” speak both languages correctly. However, one concern with this account is that the notion of language proficiency is not clearly defined. It is not clear whether reading and writing language skills should take precedence over spoken language. This reliance on reading and writing is problematic because most bilinguals receive their formal education in one language, whereas a majority of their social interactions take place in the other language. So, when their reading and writing abilities are tested in both languages, the language in which bilinguals received more formal education will usually fare better. Recent developments in psycholinguistic research has focused on how code-switching is a natural product of the interaction of the bilingual’s two languages. Early researchers viewed code-switching as evidence that the bilinguals’ two languages were organized in separate and distinct mental dictionaries. For example, a general finding throughout the literature is that bilinguals take longer to read and comprehend sentences containing code-switched words as compared to monolingual sentences. Apparently, this time consuming process is due to a “mental switch mechanism” that determines which of the bilingual’s two mental dictionaries are “on” or “off” during the course of language comprehension. This mental switch is responsible for selecting the appropriate mental dictionary to be employed during the comprehension of a sentence. Thus, for a Spanish-English bilingual speaking English, the English linguistic system is turned on, whereas the Spanish linguistic system remains off. However, if during the course of comprehending a sentence, a Spanish code-switched word is encountered, the mental switch must disable the English linguistic system, and enable the Spanish linguistic system. Another current view suggests that language dominance (i.e., which language is used more frequently) plays an important role in code-switching. For example, Spanish-English bilinguals report more linguistic interference (code-switching) when they communicate in Spanish, their first-language, and little or no code-switching when they communicate in English, their second-language. In other words, these bilinguals code-switch more when they communicate in Spanish than when they use English. Empirical research supports these observations. Psycholinguistic evidence also suggests that bilinguals retrieve English code-switched words faster when they listen to Spanish sentences, whereas they are slower to retrieve Spanish code-switched words as they listen to English sentences. More interestingly, evidence also shows that code-switched words are actually retrieved faster than monolingual words, but only if the code-switched word is in English, and the language of communication is Spanish. These results suggest a reliance on the bilingual’s second-language as opposed to their first-language. How are these results explained' The general idea behind this view is that after a certain level of fluency and frequent use of the second-language, a language shift occurs in which the second-language behaves as if it were the bilingual’s first-language. In other words, the second-language becomes more readily accessible and bilinguals come to rely on it more. Thus, regardless of which language the bilingual learned first, the more active (dominant) language determines which mental dictionary is going to be accessed faster. This argument is reasonable since most bilinguals in the US, whose first-language is Spanish, obtain their formal education in English. Likewise, many of their everyday interactions involve the second-language. As a result, words and concepts in English, the second-language, become more accessible than words in Spanish, the first-language. Thus, code-switching is not the same for both languages. Rather, it depends on language dominance. In short, code-switching may be indicative of difficulties in retrieval (access) affected by a combination of closely-related factors such as language use (i.e., how often the first-language is used) and word frequency (i.e., how much a particular word is used in the language). Finally, the notion that people code-switch as a strategy in order to be better understood and to enhance the listeners’ comprehension is another plausible alternative. I.4.5 Borrowing There is a difference between code-switching and borrowing though on the surface they seem to include the use of “foreign words” in a conversation that is conducted in another language .The difference lies in the existence and the use of one or more language system in the mind of the speaker. Borrowing usually occurs when the speaker is unable to find or ignores an appropriate equivalent for the borrowed word in the first language. The borrowed elements are usually single words and are modified so as to conform to the first language rules. In code switching, however, speakers switch codes not because they do not know an item/s in one of the codes; rather they do for necessary social considerations. Code switching occurs completely i.e. in phonetics, morphology, grammar and vocabulary. There is no adjustment or change to the rules of the other code. I.4.6 Pidgin Pidgin is a new language which develops in situations where speakers of different languages need to communicate but don't share a common language. The vocabulary of a pidgin comes mainly from one particular language (called the 'lexifier'). An early 'pre-pidgin' is quite restricted in use and variable in structure. But the later 'stable pidgin' develops its own grammatical rules which are quite different from those of the lexifier. Once a stable pidgin has emerged, it is generally learned as a second language and used for communication among people who speak different languages. (Nigerian Pidgin) I.4.6.1 Reasons for the Development of Pidgins        In the nineteenth century, when slaves from Africa were brought over to North America to work on the plantations, they were separated from the people of their community and mixed with people of various other communities, therefore they were unable to communicate with each other. The strategy behind this was so they couldn't come up with a plot to escape back to their land. Therefore, in order to finally communicate with their peers on the plantations, and with their bosses, they needed to form a language in which they could communicate. Pidgins also arose because of colonization. Prominent languages such as French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Dutch were the languages of the colonizers. They travelled, and set up ports in coastal towns where shipping and trading routes were accessible.        The superstrate ( lexifier) language from the Papua New Guinea Creole example above is English. The other minority languages that contribute to the pidgin are called the substrate languages. I.4.7 CREOLE When children start learning a pidgin as their first language and it becomes the mother tongue of a community, it is called a creole. Like a pidgin, a creole is a distinct language which has taken most of its vocabulary from another language, the lexifier, but has its own unique grammatical rules. Unlike a pidgin, however, a creole is not restricted in use, and is like any other language in its full range of functions. Examples are Gullah, Jamaican Creole and Hawaii” Creole English. Note that the words 'pidgin' and 'creole' are technical terms used by linguists, and not necessarily by speakers of the language. For example, speakers of Jamaican Creole call their language 'Patwa' (from patois) and speakers of Hawaii Creole English call theirs 'Pidgin.' I.5 Language and Social Interaction I.5.1 Speech Functions One particular side of the relation between language and society is that of the use of language in the interaction between individuals in a community. This social interaction requires some necessary functions and rules reflected in the ways people use speech. Speech has functions. We speak to communicate some information. This informative or referential function is one of the basic functions of speech. We may also use speech to report feelings and attitudes. This is its expressive function . We may speak to cause or prevent overt actions ; this is the directive function. These three functions are the basic ones though identifying just these three is an oversimplification. Several other uses of language deserve mention. The phatic function refers to the expressions of sympathy like " how are you' “ and” fantastic” as well as “street –corner” and “elevator talk” conversations”.The poetic function of speech refers to the use of aesthetic features, such as poems ,rhymes , etc…The metalinguistic function refers to the use of language I.5.2 Solidarity and Power The type of relationship the speaker has with the addressee determines the choice of one linguistic form than another. Among the social relationships between the speaker and the interlocutors can be defined in terms of power and solidarity. Power refers to the unequal relation between people –one of them being superior, the other a subordinate. e.g. teacher-pupil- father-son-officer- soldier. Solidarity on the other hand, concerns the extent of the social distance between people- how close they are, how intimate they are, how much they share in social characteristics. The variety in social relations determines the choice of language and linguistic forms. For example a teacher usually tends to use the imperative with his pupils, whereas people of equal status will use the declarative and the interrogative and strangers will tend to use polite formula. I.5.3 Forms of Address The type of relationship the speaker has with the addressee determines again the form of address in speech situations. A person can be addressed by different titles ( Mr or Dr,or Pr Brown) or by his first name John. Again the concepts of power and solidarity discussed above interfere. Mr or Dr Brown is used when there is low solidarity between the speaker and the addressee i.e. when the addressee is superior. In case there is high solidarity between the speaker and Mr Brown , then the first name John is used. In French “tu” is used in situations of high solidarity and “vous” is used in between strangers and cases of low solidarity. I.5.4 Language and Social Inequality In the view of modern linguistics all languages are equal. There is no language that is better, more beautiful or more expressive and cultured than another. There is no bad or ugly language. All languages are complex and serve the communicative needs of their communities. However, many people do not agree with this view and attribute judgments to one language /s or language variety. In this section, some issues of social inequality will be discussed. I.5.4.1 Minority Languages A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a country usually ethnic distinct groups (minorities). Such people are termed "linguistic minorities".For example , in Algeria , beside Arabic, there is Berber, and in Iraq there are Kurdish, Turkish, and one or two dialects of Syriac beside Arabic. The social status of these languages is different from that of the language of the majority which is usually the official language and is a tool for for social, politiacl, and economic advantage. Historically, minority languages have been overlooked, and since language is emblematic for national and ethnic identity, most of their native speakers were kept at their low satus socially and politically. For political reasons , govenments have intervened in the affais of their linguistic minorities by discourging the leaning and the teaching of such languages and even sometimes the use of these languages. Nowdays, humanistic attitudes have gained position . Govenments now encourage these minority languages in education especially when they do not represent , as symbols of national unity, any political threat to these governments . I.5.5 Elaborated and Restricted Codes Another linguistic disadvantage concerns the deficiency of the language of the lower social classes. Basil Bernstein in 1971 makes a significant contribution to the study of Communication with his sociolinguistic theory of language codes. As an educator, he was interested in accounting for the relatively poor performance of working-class students in language based subjects, when they were achieving scores as high as their middle-class counterparts on mathematical topics. In his theory, Bernstein makes a direct correlation between societal class and language. Within the broader category of language codes are elaborated and restricted codes. These two codes (varieties) are different as far as the contexts they are used in are concerned. They also differ linguistically. The elaborated code is characterised by the use of syntactically complex sentences and subordinate clauses, a high proportion of adjectives and adverbs, frequent use of the pronoun I and complex use of prepositions and conjunctions Elaborated codes have a longer, more complicated sentence structure that utilizes uncommon words and thoughts. In the elaborate code there is no padding or filler, only complete, well laid out thoughts that require no previous knowledge on the part of the listener, i.e., necessary details will be provided. The restricted code is, however, distinguished by the employment of short and simple sentences, which may not be formed, few conjunctions, and little subordination. The use of adjectives and adverbs is limited. The restricted code is less formal with shorter phrases interjected into the middle or end of a thought to confirm understanding. For example, “you know,” “you know what I mean,“ “right'” and  “don’t you think'” Bernstein makes a correlation between social class and the use of either elaborated or restricted code. He reports that in the working class you are likely to find the use of the restricted code, whereas in the middle class you find the use of both the restricted and elaborated codes. His research argues that the working class have access only to restricted codes, the ones they learned in the socialization process, where “both the values and role systems reinforce restricted codes”.  However, the middle class, being more geographically, socially and culturally mobile has access to both the restricted codes and elaborate codes. According to Bernstein (1971), a working class person communicates in restricted code as a result of the conditions in which they were raised and the socialization process. The same is true for the middle class person with the exception that they were exposed to the elaborate code as well. Both groups use restricted code at some point, for as Atherton (2002) points out, “Everyone uses restricted code communication some of the time. It would be a very peculiar and cold family which did not have its own language.”  I.5.6 Language and Sex Language mirrors the structure of the speech community and reflects the social and cultural values that exist in that community. Among the latter is sexism. Language itself is not sexist, but the speech community distinguishes between its members according to whether they are males or females, and gives them different social roles which are going to be reflected in the language of that community. In the following two sections how sexist social attitudes are reflected in language and the ways men and women use language will be discussed. I.5.6.1Sexism in Language Human civilisation has given unequal status to men and women which can be observed easily in human language. Sexism in language is the use of language which devalues members of one sex, almost invariably women, and thus fosters gender inequality. It discriminates against women by rendering them invisible or trivializing them at the same time that it perpetuates notions of male supremacy. For example English has manly courage and masculine charm, but feminine hands and women tears. Some nouns that refer to professions reflect the distribution of roles that has been, historically prevalent. Rector, chancellor, worker and doctor, and similar terms, are interpreted to refer to a man because these were professions that only men did. Similarly, typist and nurse are interpreted to refer to a woman. The following table shows the differentiation patterns in English as a result of the sexism in the society and the increasingly more neutral terms that replacing the old sexist ones. Current Usage Alternative man human being, human, person, individual mankind, men human beings, humans, humankind,humanity, people, human human species, society, men and women workers, wage earners working men, workmen man on the street average person, ordinary person, the common tao forefather ancestor layman layperson, nonspecialist, non professional manhood adulthood, maturity to a man everyone, unanimously, without exception one man show one person show solo exhibition founding fathers founders manpower human resources, staff, personnel, labor force brotherhood of man the family of humanity, the unity of people or of humankind human solidarity early man early people, early men and women, early human beings statemanship diplomacy man-made manufactured, synthetic, artificial old masters classic art/artists masterful domineering, very skillful I.5.6.2 Man Language and Woman Language Study of human societies has indicated that the speech of women differs from that of men. These differences are seen at all linguistic levels. At the level of vocabulary for example, women do not use some taboo words that only males use. These words are sexual vocabulary, swear words, words referring to body function, etc…Research has also revealed that in Norwich , a town in England, women pronounce words like walking , cooking , singing, etc with the standard variant of the variable ing more than men. In English women also use some colour words that are not used by men such beige, mauve and lavender. Women and men are treated differently by the society, which involves different behavioural patterns from them since they play different roles in it. Women and men know these social differences and behave accordingly so as not to be socially inept. II Psychology and Language This chapter deals with psycholinguistics. It describes the developmental stages of child language acquisition and introduces some theories of First Language Acquisition. The chapter also presents some analysis and classification of some language disorders II.1 Some Important Definitions II.1.1Definition of psychology Psychology is both an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes or mental functions ( such as perception, introspection, memory , creativity, imagination , conception , belief , reasoning , volition, and emotion — in other words, all the different things that we can do with our minds) and behaviour ( the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment; which can be conscious or unconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary ). Psychologists study such phenomena as perception, cognition, emotion, personality, behaviour, and interpersonal relationships. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including issues related to daily life—e.g. family, education, and work—and the treatment of mental health problems. The social science branch of psychology (mainly social psychology) attempts to understand the role human behavior plays in social dynamics (e.g., culture, economics, and politics). Although the natural science branch of psychology differs from biology which is the branch of science that studies life . This broad spectrum of empirical fields studies (Empirical data is data that is produced by experiment or observation ) and classifies living organisms and biological phenomena and neuroscience (a field that is devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system. Such studies may include the structure, function, evolutionary history, development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, and pathology of the nervous system.) .Psychological science has a long tradition of incorporating physiological and neurological processes into its conceptions of mental functioning. Psychology includes many sub-fields of study and application concerned with such areas as human development, sports, health, industry, forensics, and spirituality. As such, psychology is not a unified scientific discipline, with many different perceptions of what the field entails, and many different standards of what constitutes scientific research. II.1.2 Definition of Psycholinguistics or psychology of language Psycholinguistics is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors ( the study of cells of the nervous system and the organization of these cells into functional circuits that process information and mediate behavior. ) that enable humans to acquire, use, and understand language. Initial attempts to study psycholinguistics were largely philosophical ventures, due mainly to a lack of cohesive data on how the human brain functioned. Modern research makes use of biology, neuroscience , cognitive science, and information theory to study how the brain processes language. There are a number of subdisciplines; for example, as non-invasive techniques for studying the neurological workings of the brain become more and more widespread, neurolinguistics ( the science concerned with the human brain mechanisms underlying the comprehension, production and abstract knowledge of language, be it spoken, signed (body language) or written.)has become a field in its own right. Psycholinguistics covers the cognitive processes that make it possible to generate a grammatical and meaningful sentence out of vocabulary and grammatical structures, as well as the processes that make it possible to understand utterances, words, text, etc. Developmental psycholinguistics studies infants' and children's ability to learn language, usually with experimental or at least quantitative methods (as opposed to naturalistic observations such as those made by Jean Piaget ( Swiss philosopher, natural scientist and developmental psychologist, well known for his work studying children, and for his theory of cognitive development ( in his research on the development of children). II.2 First Language Acquisition Language acquisition is one of the central topics in cognitive science. Every theory of cognition has tried to explain it. Possessing a language is an essential human trait: all normal humans speak, no nonhuman animal does. Language is the main vehicle by which we know about other people's thoughts, and the two must be intimately related. Every time we speak we are revealing something about language, so the facts of language structure are easy to obtain; these data hint at a system of extraordinary complexity. Nonetheless, learning a first language is something every child does successfully, in a matter of a few years and without the need for formal lessons. Language acquisition takes place mainly before the age of 5 years old. No child fails to learn a language (pathologies aside); and language acquisition is carried out in much the same way. In acquiring language, the child’s linguistic knowledge passes through stages; each stage resembles the adult’s linguistic knowledge until the child gains full competence .Children do not acquire their mother tongue by memorisation and repetition of sentences they hear in their immediate environment. Quite the reverse, children are continuously involved in the creative activity of constructing and comprehending new sentences which they have never experienced before .In fact what they do is building a grammar of the language they are learning, a mental system of rules and principles, a theory of their language which makes them able to produce and understand all the sentences of the language .The very difficult task and the very short time in which it is acquired , added to the poor quality of the language material the child is exposed to ( parents ,mothers in particular, sometimes even imitating child’s language ) confirm the assumption that human beings are born with the disposition to learn language. However, the role of the environment is very important. With no linguistic input- i.e. speech from the surrounding environment- to provoke the acquisition process, a child will not learn a language. II. 2.1 Stages of Language Development 1-Babbling Approximately by the age of six months, all normal children start to babble; making long sequences of varied vowels and consonants. Per se , babbling is a linguistic universal. Children at this stage do not produce sounds proper to their mother tongues. Babbling belongs to infants of all communities. Babbling is not a true language though it shares with adult language the property of being stimulus -free .Infants do not babble to express a physical need. They rather do it for pleasure. Babbling sequences are usually stretches of vowels, or stops followed by vowels. They generally have the structure of ( CV) or ( VV) e.g. / gaa/, / boo/. / aa/etc…., these sequences usually have the intonation patterns that are similar to the intonation of the adult language they hear. Babbling is considered as the first stage of the acquisition process. II.2.2 The First Words Towards the age of twelve months- sometimes later- the child produces his/ her first words with some overlapping with babbling sequences at first. The first words the child produces are monosyllabic and are not different from babbling sequences except in their symbolic function. They are of the form / CV(V)/ / daa/ , / maa/, etc… and may be similar to adult words. For about six months, children seem to pass this stage in which the single words which they produce represent full adult sentences. In the case of English, / waa/ means water, or I want water or this is water. Here a variety of functions and intentions are conveyed through these single words. II.2.3 The Two- Word Stage Between 18 and 24 months, children begin to use two-word utterances. They first utter two single word utterances one after the other, with a pause in between. Later, the two words are uttered with no pause. e.g. Baby sleep - Mommy sock These utterances are used with no syntactic markers. II.2.4The Hierarchical Stage After the two-word stage, children combine their two words together to produce longer utterances. At the beginning, the utterances don not contain function words and syntactic markers but only words which carry important information, e.g. mommy eat bread. Though they lack function words these utterances are sentence –like. II .3The Acquisition of Linguistic Subsystems II.3.1Phonology Infants respond to speech sounds a few days after their birth. Experiments carried on infants’ perception demonstrate that they are able to perceive contrasts on voicing, place of articulation, nasals, and stops. Infants do this without any previous experience with language which is evidence that human beings are born with an innate ability to acquire language. The production of sounds in infants starts with babbling. Most of babbling sequences start with stops and end with vowels or voiceless stops, and there are non consonants clusters. At about 10-12 months, the infant starts copying accurately the sounds he hears from the adults around him. At this age, the child pronounces the same words differently when trying to imitate adult pronunciation. The child can discriminate between sounds but cannot contrast in production. Comprehension is not problematic for him/her whereas production is. Individual sounds are produced gradually; some are acquired earlier than others, and therefore substituted for them. The sound system is fully acquired by the age of 7. The early words are generally monosyllabic (until the age of 2), of the form/ CV/ or/ CVC/ .However, consonants clusters appear later. Children shorten adult words by deleting final consonants, or by reducing clusters and omitting unstressed syllables. II.3.2 Morphology The child learns early the morphological rules of the language. In the two-word utterances production we can notice that they lack affixes and function words. Children learn them later when they start constructing rules for using morphemes. At the beginning over generalise, but later they perfect their rules. Inflections or grammatical morphemes are learned in order, depending on their regularity, transparency, and frequency of use. In English, / ing/ is acquired earlier than the present tense /s/ . In the same way productivity and regularity in derivational morphemes are factors affect the order of acquisition. In English for example the agentive / er/ is learned early e.g. writer, teacher, baker, etc Overgeneralisation with irregular forms is usual in children’s speech. Goed and breaked are typical examples. Before the stage of over generalisation , the child may use the forms went and broke without associating them with present forms .Later ,overgeneralisation is restricted to regular forms, and irregular forms reappear. II.3.3Syntax A Holophrases or one-word sentence used by the child to express what adults would use sentences for are the first step in the syntactic development. Though children posses only single words, they use them for different functions: naming, asking, requesting, etc…. They intend their utterances to be understood a full sentences. Any way they understand full sentences when they hear them. With the two –word stage ,the structure in the child’s utterances comes into existence. The two words are usually linked with some word order. However the structure of these utterances is semantically determined. The variety of relations between the two words can be exemplified in the following English examples: Daddy sleep(agent-action) Daddy car(possessor-possession) Kick ball black car( action –object) Mommy bed( subject –location) These examples indicate the child is aware of the different semantic relations. After this stage when there is a lack of inflections and function words, the child ‘s sentences develop to look like adult sentences. In the stage of the acquisition of syntax, the child moves from simple to more complex sentences by learning the negative , passive, questions ,etc…The acquisition of syntax progresses until the age of ten or beyond where some syntactically complex sentences develop longer than others. II.3.4Semantics The acquisition of meaning is more complicated than the acquisition of phonology and syntax. Semantics is a never-ending process. We always learn vocabulary and store it continuously. Children produce their first words at the age of one and associate each word with its meaning through the process of trial and error. By the age of six, children acquire about 14000 words. The progress of vocabulary acquisition is so rapid that it is impossible to give statistics at any time, add to this the fact that the person/ child possess two types of vocabulary: active and passive . Active, which the person actually uses in his speech, and passive, which he does not use in his speech, but recognises when he hears it. The former is larger in number. There are many things specific to children’s acquisition of vocabulary. There is a certain order in learning words. The first words a child learns are those which include words that the child can act on, or things that can act for themselves, and names of large objects that exist in his environment. The meanings of the words acquired by the child are different from their adult’s meanings. This is a proof that the child has not acquired the semantic system of the language. The child’s language is full of cases of overgeneralisation . A child may use an item for a wider range of things than he should. The word doggie is used by an English-speaking child to refer to dogs, horses, cows, sheep ,etc…This demonstrates that a general feature is acquired which covers all these things. II.4Theories of First Language Acquisition Linguists and psychologists have long addressed the issues of language acquisition and its mechanisms. Many of them, however disagree on many points. The behaviourist school of psychology emphasises the role of the environment and the role of standard methods in language development. Other and mainly those who belong to the generative school hold that human beings are born with the ability to learn a language. Others like Piaget and his followers assert that language acquisition is linked to the cognitive development in the child. The following sections will discuss briefly these theories. II.4.1The Behaviourist Theory The advocates of this theory assert that the linguistic behaviour like any other kind of behaviour is a result of a chain of stimuli and responses. Language learning is a result of responses to a given stimulus that is positively reinforced so as to become automatic. Children learn their first language by imitating the speech of adults the hear and by keeping a certain response ( for example a certain answer to a certain question) when it is positively reinforced, and rejecting another response when it is negatively reinforced by the environment. Imitation and reinforcement are considered two complementary methods the child uses to acquire his mother tongue. II.4.2The Nativistic Approach Human beings are born with a mental device which is called (LAD) Language acquisition device which enables them to acquire language. Thanks to this device or language faculty, the child when exposed to linguistic input from the outside environment , even if it is poor, will construct a mental system representing the language of his community, a grammar provided to him by the language faculty. The advocates of this approach are Noam Chomsky and his school of Generative Grammar who believe that humans are born with the capacity of constructing a grammar with highly specified properties. According to this view, imitation and reinforcement are not valid methods for language acquisition since the child does not learn his language as a set of habits . II.4.3The Cognitive Approach The proponents of this approach refuse the specific mental faculty that enables language acquisition hypothesised by the nativistic approach. They rather believe that this knowledge is determined by general cognitive principles. Piaget describes the linguistic development in the child as an interaction between his developing cognitive capacities and linguistic experience. Though we still need a lot of information to decide which of these theories is more valid, all what is suggested in them plays an important role in language acquisition. II.4 Language Disorders and Language Loss Neurolinguistics is the study of the relation between language and the central nervous system. Linguistics helps in identifying and categorising language disorders which are generally speaking termed aphasia. These disorders are described and categorised in linguistic terms. Particular damages in the central nervous system affects different language aspects because certain areas of the brain are linked with language. They are located in the left hemisphere , which s said to be responsible for language ability. II.4.1What are speech and language disorders' Speech and language disorders are inabilities of individuals to understand and/or appropriately use the speech and language systems of society. Such disorders may range from simple sound repetitions or occasional misarticulations to the complete absence of the ability to use speech and language for communication.   II.4.2What are some types of speech and language disorders' Speech disorders may include: -Fluency disorder-an interruption in the flow or rhythm of speech characterized by hesitations, repetitions, or prolongations of nouns, syllables, words or phrases. -Articulation disorder-difficulties with the way sounds are formed and strung together usually characterized by substituting one sound for another (wabbit for rabbit), omitting a sound (han for hand) and distorting a sound (shlip for sip). -Voice disorder-characterized by inappropriate pitch (too high, too low never changing or interrupted by breaks; quality (harsh, hoarse, breathy or nasal); loudness, resonance, and duration. Language disorders may include: Aphasia-the loss of speech and language abilities generally resulting from stroke. Delayed language-characterized by a marked slowness in the development of language skills necessary for expressing and understanding thoughts and ideas.  II.4.3What are the causes of speech and language disorders' Some of the causes of speech and language disorders are related to hearing loss, short memory span, cerebral palsy and other neuromuscular disorders, severe head injuries, stroke, viral diseases, certain drugs, physical impairments such as cleft lip or palate, and inadequate speech and language models in the home environment. The majority of voice disorders in children usually result from frequent vocal abuse associated with excessive throat clearing, coughing screaming, or yelling. This abuse can cause inflammation of the larynx (vocal cords), or the formation of nodules and polyps, which are small growths, on the vocal cords. Allergies, smoking, and the consumption of alcoholic beverages are other factors which may adversely affect the larynx (vocal cords) resulting in varying degrees of voice disorder.  In the following sections different types of aphasia will be discussed. 1. Broca’s aphasia In this type of aphasia, speech is hesitant and not fluent, with many stops and deficient intonation. Both speech and writing lack grammar. This kind of aphasia also is characterised by the incorrect use of grammatical morphemes (function words).Lexical morphemes are used but phonologically deformed. 2.Wernicke’s aphasia A lesion in an area in the brain called Wernicke’s area causes this aphasia. Generally, language comprehension and expression are affected. The person may be quite fluent but his speech is meaningless. The utterances are made of indefinite noun phrases sequences of actual or non-actual words. Comprehension and the ability to read and to repeat are damaged. 3.Anomic aphasia This type of aphasia is characterised by the difficulty to find words. Some patients block and may substitute the words they want to say. Others block even in writing. 4.Conduction aphasia While production and comprehension are whole, the ability is impaired. It is phonological . There are errors in the sequencing and selection of segments. 5.Alexia and agraphia The patient can speak and understand correctly but unable to read and write (alexia and agraphia respectively). He / She can recognise individual letters but totally unable to read them in combination. There is another type of aphasia that is characterised by word deafness. The patient can speak, read, and write, but cannot understand spoken language. From the above brief presentation of the types of aphasia , we can deduce that linguistics can provide the description, analysis and classification of language disorders. The latter are described in terms of the linguistic abilities of the patient- i.e. the four language skills: speaking, comprehension, reading and writing.