Notes (Gibbon)

Linguistic knowledge

• Knowlege of the sound system.
• Knowledge of the meaning of words.
• The creativity of linguistic knowledge.
• Knowledge of sentences and nonsentences.

Linguistic knowledge and performance

What is grammar?

• Descriptive grammars.
• Prescriptive grammars.
• Teaching grammars.

Language universals

Animal ``Languages''

• ``Talking'' parrots.
• The birds and the bees.

In the beginning: the origin of language

• God's gift to mankind?
• The first language.
• Human invention of the cries of nature.

What we know about language

Food for thought

• What kinds of knowledge are dependent on language, and what kinds are independent of language?
• Is thought independent of language or dependent of it?
• What kind of knowledge do you need to ride a bicycle? How exactly do you move your arms when turning to the right on a bicycle, a moped or a motorbike? How does this differ from car-driving?
• How many languages do you `know'? How many languages do you `speak'?
• How exactly do you move your lips when you say `papa'? What is the difference when you say `mama'? What is your exact tongue position when you say `bus'?

Terminology

acceptable:

arbitrariness:

bird calls:

bird songs:

competence:

conventionality:

creativity:

dialect:

descriptive grammar:

form:

function:

functions of language:

grammar:

grammatical:

iconic:

infinite set:

innate ability:

knowledge:

language:

learned ability:

lexicon:

linguistic theory:

meaning:

mimetic:

morphology:

onomatopoeic:

origins of language:

performance:

phonology:

prescriptive grammar:

semantics:

signifiy:

sound system:

sound symbolism:

syntax:

universal grammar: