Course Outline

ENGL 390: The Linguistic Structure of Modern English
Spring 2006 • Dr. J. Rubba
Original text © Johanna Rubba 2006

ENGL 390: The Linguistic Structure of Modern English

+Purposes of course:

•To show how English works

•Preparation to teach high-school English/Language Arts

•Applying linguistics concepts in teaching

FSeeing English structure in action in real texts: literary, expository, informal

FUsing actual teaching materials

+Course website:
http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba/390/index.html

ENGL 390: The Linguistic Structure of Modern English

+CA content standards for Language Arts K-12:
“Written and Oral English Language Conventions”

+Contents page:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/engmain.asp

•7th grade:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/enggrade7.asp

•9th & 10th grades:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/enggrades9-10.asp

•11th & 12th grades:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/enggrades11-12.asp

•CA lanuage arts framework:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/pn/fd/documents/lang-arts.pdf

Introduction: The Nature & Purpose of Language

+One main purpose of language:

•Communication: making one person’s knowledge available to another mind

Introduction: The Nature & Purpose of Language

+Another main purpose of language:

•As important as communication

•“Joint action” (Clark, Using Language):

FAlways interactive — cooperative activity towards a goal

FAlways follows rules: you are always “watching what you say”

FAs important to social relationships as to communication

FWe use language to create, maintain, and adjust personal relationships of all kinds

Introduction: The Nature & Purpose of Language - cont’d

+The nature of language:

•A code:

FSignal or symbol (language form) /star/

Introduction: The Nature & Purpose of Language - cont’d

+What language is made of:

•Component systems (“levels”) of language

•Table shows technical name, field of study

Two “sides” of language	System	Technical name of system	Field of study
Meaning	Meaning: thoughts to be expressed	Semantics	Semantics
Form: Elements of language structure	Sound: elements of spoken language	Phonetics & phonology	Phonetics & phonology
	Vocabulary: meaning-expressing elements	Morphology & lexicon	Morphology & lexicology
	Word groups: Phrases and sentences	Syntax	Syntax
	Events of language use/interaction	Discourse	Discourse analysis Text linguistics Pragmatics

Introduction: The Nature & Purpose of Language - cont’d

+Each of these subsystems follows the same general structural pattern:

•Units, elements used as building blocks, and

•Patterns, consistent ways of arranging units to make larger elements

+Examples:

•From morphology: morphemes (root words and suffixes, prefixes) combine to make words:

FUnits: teach and -er

FRoot word teach combines with suffix -er to make teacher

]Pattern = suffixation

FUnits: sing and past tense = sang

]Pattern: “ablaut” (vowel change)

Introduction: The Nature & Purpose of Language - cont’d

+Illustration of the relation between grammar (language structure) and meaning (the thoughts we want to trigger in a listener with our language)

•blue sky

•sky blue

+The word order determines the picture we draw with our mind’s eye:

•Second word names the referent -- thing named by the phrase

•First word modifies this referent -- gives additional detail to second word

•Second word: the head of the phrase (the main word)

•First word: a modifier

•Head and modifier are roles that words play in building phrases.

•Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions can be heads.

•Nouns, adjectives, adverbs, articles, and other words can be modifiers.

Introduction: The Nature & Purpose of Language - cont’d

+Using Magnetic Poetry tiles, create reversible word pairs like blue sky, sky blue.

+Discuss the difference in naming: How different is the thing named by AB from the thing named by BA? Does the meaning of the first word change when the order is reversed, too?

•Ex.:

FA. race horse

FB. horse race

FA. Race horse: A horse is an animal. Here, race names the event the horse is raised/trained for. It identifies more exactly which kind of horse is being named.

FB. Horse race: A race is a competitive event based on the speed of the participants: whoever reaches the finish line first wins. Here, horse names the participants whose speed is being tested. The word identifies the kind of race named by the head word.

FThe thing named by AB is very different from the thing named by BA: an animal vs. an event.

FThe meaning of the first word doesn’t change substantially: in race horse, race still names the competitive event; in horse race, horse still names a particular animal.

F

Introduction: The Nature & Purpose of Language - cont’d

+The basic unit of language: the TEXT (unit of discourse)

+A text: An event of language use / language interaction, e.g.,

•A personal conversation

•A magazine article

•A note on the fridge

•A political speech

•A novel

•A “note to self”

+Defined by:

•An interaction between individuals

•Serves a purpose within a social context

•Is self-contained: has a beginning and ending

•Is structured: follows patterns /rules for its type (genre) of text

+All of the components shown in the table on slide # 7 exist in order to build texts.

+The purpose of language structure is to build texts.

+Even one-word, one-phrase, one-sentence utterances are texts:

•“Stop!” - “Careful!” - “Behind you!” - “Your turn.” - “Hurry up!”

•“It’s raining again.” - “I can’t find my keys.” - “The cat got out.” - “You dropped this.”

Introduction: The Nature & Purpose of Language - cont’d

+Example: a personal conversation

•An interaction between individuals

FConversation participants

•Serves a purpose within a social context

FSharing information; social bonding; accomplishing a goal (set up meeting; request help; convey news)

•Is self-contained: has a beginning and ending

FGreeting, opening sequence:

]“Hi, what’s up?” - “So how was the movie?” - “Well, I finally finished project.”

FClosing sequence:

]“Hey, I’d better get going. I’m late for work. See you later!”

•Is structured: follows patterns /rules for its type (genre) of text

FGreeting

FOpening sequence

FSessions of turns; question/answer pairs, etc.

FTurn-taking management: signalling end of turn; holding or taking the floor; etc.

FTopic management: sticking with vs. switching topics; segues, topic-change markers

]“Speaking of X, …” - “Hey, did you hear about X?” - “Did you ever finish that project?”

FClosing sequence