English in Use – Introduction

English in Use – Introduction 1. Towards ‚English in Use’ - The historical evolution of linguistics Traditional language studies (Antiquity – Middle Ages – 17th century) • Latin grammar • Prescriptivism = telling people what to do and if this is right or wrong Historical comparative language studies (18th/19th century) • Mechanistic physics → Linguistics as a set of laws (like lawbook) • Darwin’s theory of evolution → Linguistics as a natural science • Language families (Indo-European most interesting one, Indo = Asian) • Proto-languages (proto=before, every language has ancestors) • Proto-languages split in West-, North- & East Germanic languages etc. (see diagram) Structuralism (20th century) • Ferdinand de Saussure • 1916: Cours de linguistique générale • Descriptive = open minded take language as it is and describe it as it is • Synchronic • Primacy of the spoken language • Language as a system of structures • Aim: Description of the functions of a specific language and its structures • Structural levels o Phonology o Morphology o Syntax o Semantics Generative Grammar (1950s-) • Noam Chomsky • Language competence • Aim: Description of linguistic knowledge, very abstract • • • Search for the constituents of a universal grammar (= every human is born with capacity to learn every language you want) based on innate rules Structural levels o Deep structure → lexicon, syntax, morphophonology o Transformations (turning something into a question) o Surface structure (language in use) Decontextualised, abstract Language usage (1960s-) • Major change in the approach to studying language(s) o From language system to language usage (focus on parole) o From sentence to text o From text to context o From form to social function o From "core linguistics" to ‘hyphenated linguistics’ • Focus on different ‘areas’ (=levels) and applications of linguistics in ‘real life’ 2. What linguists do – English in Use „Training in linguistics is training to think creatively, associatively, and in systems. We linguists see beneath the surface, we see solutions to puzzles, we see patterns in chaos, we are not afraid of ambiguity – all of which can (and should) be brought to bear on the challenges and needs of our world. We can and should find wide application of our powerful analytical skills, systems-thinking and problem-solving. “ • Knowledge of (English) linguistics is often essential in the workplace, e.g. o In language teaching o In communication o In the legal system o In computing and technology o In health sciences o In advertising and marketing o In creative arts o … English in Use – English Teaching • Knowledge of the inner workings of English (e.g. grammar, pronunciation) is essential to teach the language successfully • Communicative competence (= see it interculturally) o when to speak, when to interrupt, how to speak, etc. • Awareness of different discourse styles o more effective teaching and pupil engagement • Different linguistic and cultural backgrounds o teachers should know about, accents, dialects and standard language • Typical career paths o English teacher at school or for adults Recognising non-standard varieties in the classroom!!! Below, linguist Jeff Siegel discusses his book Second Dialect Acquisition with Maria Zijlstra, presenter of the ABC Radio program Lingua Franca. She has just suggested that these days people are much more accepting of nonstandard versions of different languages. „People used to think that anything except the standard was incorrect or broken or showed stupidity or anything like that, and although that still does occur ... in Australia a lot of teachers think that Aboriginal kids just are too lazy to learn and speak standard English, and it’s quite disgraceful that the awareness about the variety of language that you say is changing among the general population hasn’t changed enough amongst the educational profession and you still get teachers making these amazing value judgements against their students. They talk about kids having careless habits rather than speaking a different dialect, whereas if they spoke a different language, teachers would be a lot more tolerant. “ English in use - Communication • The linguist can be an ‘interpreter’ between groups – even if everyone speaks the same language • Intercultural communication (= which conclusions do they draw?) o Major differences between how different cultures address problems or which implicatures they draw • Language awareness and language skills o More effective writing • Typical career paths o Author o Technical writer o Translator o Copy-editor o lexicographer English in use – The legal system (Forensic linguistics) • Legal language (legalese) (German is a good example) o Highly technical vocabulary, difficult syntax o Plain English Movement (why are things so complicated? Easier to read) • Providing linguistic training to judges or lawyers, and the police o Unequal treatment of dialect or second language speakers o How can a lawyer’s questioning influence witness stories? o Investigative interviewing • Language and crime o Forensic phonetics, e.g. accent identification and discrimination o Stylistic analyses of e.g. blackmail letters o Identifying plagiarism o Trademark infringement English in use – Computing and technology • Human-computer Interface • Typical applications a linguist is needed for o Natural language processing (= you take language as it occurs using different algorithms = work with the language) o Speech recognition o Machine translation o Large-scale corpora o Improving hearing aids and cochlear implants English in use – Why we need better speech recognition Text that was read by a Ghanaian student The Boy who Cried Wolf There was once a poor shepherd boy who used to watch his flocks in the fields next to a dark forest near the foot of a mountain. One hot afternoon, he thought up a good plan to get some company for himself and also have a little fun. Raising his fist in the air, he ran down to the village shouting ‘Wolf, Wolf.’ As soon as they heard him, the villagers all rushed from their homes, full of concern for his safety, and two of his cousins even stayed with him for a short while. This gave the boy so much pleasure that a few days later he tried exactly the same trick again, and once more he was successful. However, not long after, a wolf that had just escaped from the zoo was looking for a change from its usual diet of chicken and duck. So, overcoming its fear of being shot, it actually did come out from the forest and began to threaten the sheep. Racing down to the village, the boy of course cried out even louder than before. Unfortunately, as all the villagers were convinced that he was trying to fool them a third time, they told him, ‘Go away and don’t bother us again.’ And so the wolf had a feast. Google Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) the Boy Who Cried Wolf there was once a Porsche boy who used to watch this blog in the field next to a dark Forest near the foot of the Mountain self to have a little phone wolf wolf behead him India homes robins covers Stephen King for a short Bob boy but he tried exactly the same shape again anyone know he was successful however not long after escape from the hospital for a change from its usual diet of chicken and back Ethiopian Sean in Hollywood come out on The Voice and dances pressing the Sheep even louder than before I've already that he was trying to fool than a third time he told him go away and goes for that again apologies → long way to go in order to be right! English in use – Health sciences • Speech therapy o Working with people whose language faculty is somehow different o Children not being able to produce certain sounds o Post-stroke disorders like aphasia (not being able to produce or comprehend language) • Communication disorders and psychiatric disorders o See below • Improving doctor-patient communication o Different discourse styles o The power of words and phrasing in breaking bad news „An Australian community sample of depressed adolescents showed that they used poor pragmatic skills in daily communication compared with their non-depressed peers; these problems included difficulty with initiating, continuing and terminating conversations. They also reported difficulty with managing topic change and extending topics and described the use of stereotypic language as being easier than extending a topic of conversation, as it gave the impression that the speaker was being understood and it required less energy than adding to a topic. Maintaining eye-contact is also a difficult task for depressed youth. Clearly, such research leaves us to contemplate some of the issues that may arise for such youth regarding future employment and training opportunities.“ English in use – Advertising and marketing • Advertisers want ‘pleasing’ words o Crafted sounds much more valuable than made or manufactured o Brand names should be meaningful, catchy, distinctive, memorable, easy to say and legally protectable o “Just the right assemblage of consonants and vowels can create a certain impression or atmosphere, and send out a subtle signal to buyers looking for the product that suits their image” [...] Clorox versus Chanel – which is going to be the hard-working laundry detergent and which the new fragrance? (Burridge & Stebbins 2020: 46) • Products sold globally may require linguistic adaptations o Advertisement campaigns need to fit the market linguistically to avoid confusion or embarrassment o For some reason the Mist-Stick curling iron introduced by an American company didn’t quite make it on the German market English in use – Creative arts • Language is central in many creative arts jobs o Authors, playwrights, poets, translators o Dialect coach, coaching actors to perform and accent or dialect not their own o Creation of artificial languages ▪ J.R.R. Tolkien (a professor of philology) invented Elvish for his books ▪ Mark Okrand (a grammarian) invented Klingon for Star Wars ▪ Francis Nolan (a phonetician) constructed the fragments of Parseltongue for Harry Potter Keywords to remember • Prescriptive • Language family • Descriptive • Universal Grammar • Areas of linguistics • Communicative competence • Intercultural communication • Legalese • Natural language processing • Corpus • Speech therapy