languageandlanguagelearning

1、Language and Language Learning,What is language and how do we learn languages?,http:/ film: The Linguists Are endangered languages worth saving? www.livingtongues.org 3000 endangered languages at present (2010) 50-90% could vanish by year 2100 Should we speak a global language?,WHAT IS LANGUAGE?,Language is,Language is a system of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value. Speakers identify themselves and others through their use of language; they view their language as a symbol of th

2、eir social identity. Thus; language expresses, embodies and symbolizes cultural identity. Language has rules which involve word structure (morphology), grammar and sentence structure (syntax), word meaning (semantics) and social appropriateness (pragmatics).,Language is.,Language is a term most commonly used to refer to so-called “natural languages“ the spoken forms of communication ubiquitous among humankind. By extension the term also refers to the type of thought process which creates and use

3、s language. Essential to both meanings is the systematic creation, maintenance and use of systems of symbols, which dynamically refer to concepts and assemble, according to structured patterns, to form expressions and communicate meaning (denotation=the basic conceptual meaning of a word and connotation=the associations evoked by a word in the mind of the listener/reader). Semantics= the study of how meaning is encoded in language, as distinct from what speakers mean to say when they use languag

4、e; semantic networks; associations of related meanings evoked by wordsThe scientific study of language is called linguistics.,Language and linguistics,Todays science of linguistics explores: the sounds of speech and how different sounds function in a language the psychological processes involved in the use of language how children acquire language capabilities social and cultural factors in language use, variation and change the acoustics of speech and the physiological and psychological aspects

5、 involved in producing and understanding it the biological basis of language in the brain,Sociolinguistics,“the study of language in relation to society” The social significance of language variation and language use in different speech communities, including regional, ethnic and social groups Speech community= defined as a group of people who form a community and share the same language or a particular variety of language Diglossia= two very different varieties of language co-exist in a speech

6、community (high variety vs low variety) Bilingualism, multilingualism, code-switching, slang, linguistic taboo, euphemism ( from the Greek word euphemismos; “to speak with good words”, e g toilet or Ladies Room, economically deprived or poor, disabled or cripple, dignified matron or old woman? ),Psycholinguistics,Thought versus language; are you speaking the language or is it the language speaking you? (verbal thought/inner speech)The study of the normal and abnormal use of language and speech t

7、o gain better understanding of how the human mind functionsLanguage processing centers are not situated in a single area of the left hemisphere of the brain, but neurolinguists have concluded that, in addition to the motor area which is responsible for physical articulation of utterances, three areas of the left hemisphere are vital to language, namely Brocas area, Wernickes area and the angular gyrus.E g Brocas area= damage in the frontal lobe- word-finding difficulties and problems with syntax

8、; For example: “ I eggs and eat and drink coffee breakfast”,Psycholinguistics,Wernickes area; speech comprehension deficits The angular gyrus; to be able to convert a visual stimulus into an auditory form, e g the naming of objects, comprehension of written language Language disorders; dyslexia, autism, aphasia, Alzheimers disease, FAS, stammering/stuttering “slip of the tongue” Critical period ( “Genie”; physical, sensory, social, emotional and linguistic deprivation ) First language acquisitio

9、n ( baby crying, cooing, babbling to “mama” and “dada” ), Chomsky: “How can a child produce a sentence that has never been said by others before?”,Cuneiform is one of the first known forms of written language, but spoken language is believed to predate writing by tens of thousands of years at least.,Cuneiform script: Type: Logographic and syllabic, spoken languages; Akkadian, Eblaite, Elamite, Hattic, Hittite, Hurrian, Luwian, Sumerian, Urartian,Cuneiform script (pronounced /kjuni.frm/ kew-NEE-i

10、-form or /kjunfrm/ KEW-ni-form) is the earliest known writing system in the world. Cuneiform writing emerged in the Sumerian civilization of southern Iraq around the 34th century BC during the middle Uruk period, beginning as a pictographic system of writing. Cuneiform was the most widespread and historically significant writing system in the Ancient Near East.,A language is a system of signs (symbols, indices, icons) for encoding and decoding information. Since language and languages became an object of study by ancient grammarians, the term has had many different definitions. The English word derives from Latin lingua, “language, tongue.“ “Tongue,“ as a physical organ of speech, is also used in English and other languages apart from Latin as a metaphor.,

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