DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

COURSE CODE: EL 1
NAME: Dgieordan Ice Rhaell B. Calderon RATING:________
COURSE & YEAR: BSED - English 1A PROF.: Mr. Eriberto Rivera
TOPIC: Language and Linguistics
LESSON NUMBER: 1
SUB-TOPIC: Characteristics of Language
PAGE NUMBER COVERED: 5

Guide Questions

1. Language refers to concepts, methods, and styles.

Language can refer to a wide range of concepts and objects, such as the unique
form of words and speech used by the inhabitants of a nation, location, or social group.
It may cite the means of human communication utilizing spoken or written words.
Moreover, language may also refer to the kinds or types of words employed by
a person or group, which is a subject commonly researched in sociolinguistics. That is
to say, we may discuss a specific language, such as English, or we can discuss
language in general. For example, General Linguistics will focus on the latter issue,
whereas each language departments study their own language, such as the study of the
english language and culture.

2. Language refers to expressions of ideas (thoughts) and system of arbitrary symbols

(arbitrary).

It is being said that language is a system for communicating ideas via the use of
speech-sounds combined into words. It's as though concepts are being fused into
thoughts as words are becoming phrases. A language, on the other hand, is a system
of arbitrary voice symbols through which a social group cooperates.
There are many assumptions and problems that might be raised by a brief
definition of language. For instance, the first overvalues "thinking," while the second
employs "arbitrary" in a specialized, but legal, manner.

3. Language is used to acquire a system of communication.

Every physically and mentally healthy individual learns as a kid how to utilize
a limited set of symbols as both a transmitter and a receiver of a communication
system. In spoken language, this symbol set represents noises made by the throat and
mouth as specific organs move.
 Symbols in sign languages might be hand or body motions, gestures, or facial
expressions. People use these symbols to convey information, express sentiments and
emotions, and influence the actions of others. It could be of use upon giving signs as
well. They can also behave with various degrees of animosity toward those who
employ a similar set of symbols.
well. They can also behave with various degrees of animosity toward those
who employ a similar set of symbols.

4. The system of communication produces “dialects of a language, and idiolects”.

Languages are made up of systems of communication; the degree of

difference required to develop a language is impossible to quantify precisely. Systems
of communication are recognized as separate languages if they cannot be understood
without particular learning by both parties. Although the precise limits of mutual
intelligibility are difficult to identify and belong on a scale rather than on either side
of a clear dividing line.
Diverse ways of communicating that may make it difficult for people to
understand one another are known as dialects of a language. The word idiolect, which
refers to a person's habits of expression, has been coined to define in depth the real
diverse language patterns used by various persons.

5. Language, upon acquisition, maybe “first language (native tongue) or second

languages”.

In most cases, people begin learning a single language, such as their first
language or native tongue, which is the language spoken by those who raised them
from birth onwards. Second languages are acquired at varying rates and levels of
proficiency depending on the learning environment. It may also obtain by certain
situations.
In many situations, children grow up as bilinguals due to their parents' use of
various languages at home or being raised in a multilingual community. In
traditionally monolingual societies, acquiring a second or a foreign language is a
process that is added on top of mastering one's native language.

6. The most important single feature characterizing human language is

its infinite productivity and creativity.

The language, as previously said, is unique to humans. Human language

stands out against every known method of animal communication because it is
infinitely productive and creative. We are the only species that could produce
language effectively.
Humans have no limitations when it comes to expressing themselves. No
part of their existence is regarded incommunicable. No matter how much one's
thinking or language changes due to new discoveries or ways of looking at things.
7. The primary purpose of language is to facilitate communication.

Language, according to most theories, serves primarily as a means of

facilitating communication, specifically the conveyance of information from one
person to another. Studies in sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics, on the other hand,
have shown that language serves a variety of additional purposes.
One of these is the use of language to convey national or local identity. It
refers to a common cause of conflict in multi-ethnic societies across the world. In
addition, the humorous function of language, found in phenomena like puns, riddles,
and crossword puzzles, as well as the breadth of functions observed in creative or
symbolic contexts, such as poetry, theater, and religious expression, are crucial.
 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

COURSE CODE: EL 1
NAME: Dgieordan Ice Rhaell B. Calderon RATING:________
COURSE & YEAR: BSED - English 1A PROF.: Mr. Eriberto Rivera
TOPIC: Language and Linguistics
LESSON NUMBER: 2
SUB-TOPIC: Yule’s 5 Characteristics of
Language
PAGE NUMBER COVERED: 6-9

Guide Questions

1. Humans have the ability to use language to talk about times, places and people
other than the ‘here and now’.

Linguists define displacement as a language's ability to communicate about

things that aren't immediately present, such as items that aren't here or aren't here
right now. This is the scope in which the usage of words used discusses events, places,
and people other than the here and now. As a result, it gives us the capability of
saying things we know to be false—in other words, to tell lies.
Moreover, one of the most useful aspects of human language is the ability to
refer to objects that are both physically and temporally far from us. Displacement in
communication can help highlight what makes human language special.

2. There is generally no natural, inherent relationship between the signs (i.e. sounds or
letters) we produce and their meaning.

Arbitrariness in linguistics refers to the lack of a link between a word's

meaning and its sound or form. For the most part, language is arbitrary, which is why
learning a foreign language's vocabulary takes so long. One of the qualities shared by
all languages is arbitrariness, which is the antithesis of sound symbolism, which
shows an apparent link between sound and sense.
This means that despite some iconic features, all language may be seen to be
arbitrary, at least in this linguistic sense of the term. Instead of universal norms and
consistency, language relies on connections of word meanings derived from cultural
traditions.

3. Human languages are allowing us to continuously create new utterances,

combining the ‘building bricks’ of language in ever new ways, whether these be
sounds, words or sentences.

With regard to word creation, productivity is defined as the frequency with

which native speakers utilize one or more grammatical processes. It contrasts
commonly used grammatical procedures with less often used ones that trend toward
lexicalization.
In addition to that, productivity is a linguistic word that refers to the ability to
express new ideas via the use of language, regardless of the language. When used in a
more restricted sense, the term productivity refers to certain constructs (such as
affixes) that may be employed to create additional instances of the same kind.
Productiviy is also known as open-endedness or creativity.

4. This is the characteristics indicating how languages are acquired by our children.

According to linguistics, cultural transmission occurs when a language is

transmitted down from one generation to the next within a society. It's also called
social and cultural transmission or socio/cultural learning.
In other ways, it's no secret that language plays an important part in culture,
whether it's used to spread ideas or to define people's identities. Language is a
medium for transmitting culture. Language is used to spread culture from one society
to another. The language used inside a society's boundaries is influenced by culture,
such as how particular terms are employed to promote the culture. A culture's
language is how its people communicate and form relationships with one another.

5. Two separate layers of language are working together to provide us with a pool of
sounds which we can combine to communicate with one another.

Due to its utilization of combinations of few meaningless components to

generate many meaningful ones, double-articulation, duality-of-patterning or duality
is the most fundamental linguistic phenomena. To give it its name, it alludes to the
two-level structure present in many sign systems, which consist of distinct but
meaningless parts as well as significant or meaningful ones.
In human language, the ability to evaluate speech on two levels is known as
duality of patterning. As a collection of unrelated components; as a finite number of
phonemes or sounds. Composed of meaningful components; a nearly infinite number
of words or morphemes (also called double articulation).

6. Sounds of a language differ sufficiently from one another.

One other characteristic of human language is reflexivity. This refers to the

fact that we may make use of the language itself to discuss language, as linguists
frequently do. Human languages are believed to be distinct from other animal
communication systems because of their discreteness.
When the sounds of a language are distinct enough, a native speaker can tell
which sign is being employed with which meaning at any given time. Language's
discreteness also refers to the fact that human language is made up of separate sounds.
 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

COURSE CODE: EL 1
NAME: Dgieordan Ice Rhaell B. Calderon RATING:________
COURSE & YEAR: BSED - English 1A PROF.: Mr. Eriberto Rivera
TOPIC: Language and Linguistics
LESSON NUMBER: 3
SUB-TOPIC: What is Linguistics?
PAGE NUMBER COVERED: 10-13

Guide Questions

1. Descriptive and Prescriptive Linguistics

Descriptive linguistics is the study of how people speak their language today
or how they talked in the past, and it is done by observing and writing about how they
did so. All linguistics study is descriptive; like all other disciplines, it aims to examine
the language world as it is, without the prejudice of prior assumptions about how it
should be.
Prescriptive linguistics, on the other hand, describes how a language should
be used rather than how it is actually used; a prescription for the 'proper' phonology,
morphology, syntax, and semantics. When it comes to language, the descriptive
approach means describing things exactly as they are. The descriptive method aims to
discover how language is utilized fully, correctly, and systematically.

2. Synchronic and Diachronic Linguistics

In linguistics, synchrony and diachrony represent two opposing but

complimentary perspectives. A synchronic method looks at a language at a certain
point in time without taking its history into consideration. The goal of synchronic
linguistics is to describe a language at a particular moment in time, generally the
present.
To further elaborate, when comparing synchronic and diachronic linguistics,
the major distinction is how they approach language. Synchronic linguistics and
diachronic linguistics are two main divisions of linguistics.

3. Theoretical and Applied Linguistics

When theoretical linguistics is understood to relate to core or internal

linguistics, the term refers to the study of the various components of the language
system. Phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics have all been used to describe
this. Other topics like as pragmatics and discourse can be covered depending on
where you go to school.
Applied linguistics, however, is an interdisciplinary area that discovers,
examines, and provides answers to language-related real-life issues. For instance,
educational psychology, communication studies, and anthropological sociolinguistics
are all connected to applied linguistics.
4. Scientific Prerequisites of Linguistics:
a. Subject Matter, b. Objective Observation/Investigation, and, c. Systematic
Arrangement

Linguistics is the study of language from a scientific perspective.

Linguistics, in order to qualify as a science, must meet a number of criteria. Language
is stated as the subject matter of Linguistics. And as a subject matter, a language must
be comprehensively defined.
In addition, linguistics must undergo objectictive observation and
investigation. This is to prove that the subject matter has been studied and observed
ojectively. The result of the observation and investigation, though, must be
systematically arranged. This has to be done in an attempt to demonstrate the
connection between the subject matter.
 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

COURSE CODE: EL 1
NAME: Dgieordan Ice Rhaell B. Calderon RATING:________
COURSE & YEAR: BSED - English 1A PROF.: Mr. Eriberto Rivera
TOPIC: Language and Linguistics
LESSON NUMBER: 4
SUB-TOPIC: History of Linguistics
PAGE NUMBER COVERED: 14-15

Guide Questions

A.

1. Ferdinand de Saussure

Structuralism in Linguistics was established by Saussure, signifying a

fundamental break in language research, which had hitherto been historical and
philological. When it comes to understanding nature and human existence,
structuralism focus on relationships rather than individual things, or they describe
items based on the network of links to which they belong rather than on their unique
attributes. Saussure also emphasized the customary and arbitrary nature of the
relationship between the signifier and the signified, as well as the psychological
aspect of both words.

2. Prague School

The linguistics of Prague School emphasizes the function of language elements,

the difference
between language parts, and the overall pattern or system created by these contrasts. It
has made significant contributions to the study of sound systems. One of their main
concepts was that language is utilized poetically or artistically when the expressive
side predominates, and that it is typical of the expressive role of language that this
should be evident in the form of an utterance and not only in the meanings of the
component words.

3. Francis Boas

An important figure in the history of American linguistic anthropology, Franz

Boas is widely recognized as its pioneer. For him, preserving Native American
languages and cultures was a top priority, and as a result, he collected some of the last,
and in some cases, the only, material available on a number of now extinct languages.
These include Lower Chinook, Cathlamet, Chemakum, Pentlach, Pochutec, and
Tsetsaut. He instilled in his pupils a drive to gather correct data while it was still
feasible by stressing the importance of fieldwork. As a result of Boas and his
associates' efforts to describe these languages, American structuralism emerged as the
dominating influence in linguistics during the twentieth century.
4. Edward Sapir

Language impacts mind, not the other way around, as Edward Sapir and his student
Benjamin Lee Whorf theorized. The strong form of the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis states
that persons from various cultural backgrounds think in different ways due to
linguistic differences. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis shows how sexist language affects
how society sees men and women. Some examples of such terms are: firefighter;
policeman; and nurse; all of which refer to men.

5. Leonard Bloomfield

Bloomfield argued in Language that linguistic phenomena could only be

effectively investigated when they were separated from their nonlinguistic
surroundings. He eschewed anything except empirical description, according to
behaviorist ideas. The field of linguistics owes more to Bloomfield than any of his
colleagues a clear methodological emphasis.

6. Noam Chomsky

We all have an intrinsic grasp of how language works according to Noam

Chomsky's universal grammar. Chomsky's hypothesis is based on the concept that all
languages have similar structures ans rules in the universal grammar. The fact that
infants worldwide acquire language in the same way and without much effort appears
to imply that we are born wired with the fundamentals already existing in our brains.

7. Typology

Typology is the study of or analysis or classification based on types or

categories. Typological theories fall somewhere in the midst of encompassing laws, or
extremely general abstract concepts, and causal processes. Using typological theories,
researchers can look for recurrences in processes and develop hypotheses about how
those mechanisms create effects.

B.

1. Endangered languages will continue to be a major concern - languages are

becoming extinct at an alarming rate; it is estimated that within the next 100 years, 50
percent to 85 percent of the world's 6,000 or so languages will become extinct or so
near to extinction they cannot be revived.

Language endangerment is a major concern because of the causes that lead

people to forsake their native tongues, as well as the social and psychological effects
of language extinction on the community. It is truly evident that endangered
languages are becoming increasingly important as a result of an alarming rate of
extinction. Hence, one of the most important focuses of the field is on human
cognition and its ties to formal grammar. When a person loses their native tongue,
social and cultural ramifications follow nearly invariably. When a language is lost, we
lose a piece of our collective intangible cultural legacy.
2. Interfaces between linguistics and computer science are growing and are likely to
be of high interest to future linguists.

The intersection of linguistics and computer science is expanding, and

future linguists will be keenly interested in exploring it. There is little question that
research into language universals and typology will continue in both formal and
functionalist methods, with the goal of understanding language universals, universal
grammar characteristics, the function of language, and how function may help shape
language structure. Nobody knows how much these methods will converge or diverge
even further. According to reports in non-linguistic media, linguists are particularly
concerned with distant language connections .Few linguists are actually interested in
this topic; nonetheless, efforts to uncover the past of human languages and their more
distant relatives will continue, with the hope that a more rigorous and thorough
technique will be used and that some progress will be achieved.

3. Advances will be made in the explanation of how and why languages change.

Language changes for several reasons. There are several factors that
influence the shifts in a language. First, it evolves in response to the shifting demands
of its audience. New goods, services, and ways of doing things necessitate the
development of new terminology to describe them effectively. Language is ever-
evolving and adapting to meet the demands of its users. The language will continue to
evolve along with the demands of its users.