19. Language Units Units of language (sounds, syllables, words, etc.) don’t just combine randomly. They are arranged in a hierarchical system. On every level, there are rules that govern which units can exist in this particular language and how they can combine with each other.
21. Language Rules: Examples What about these words? Could they be English words? ricking glutch trest stoom
22. Answer: Sure. Even if they aren’t found in the dictionary, we can imagine them as being English words. Some new-ish words which once would have sounded strange: quark, google, email
23. Language Rules: Examples What about these words? Could they be English words? ngayon gdje mgla mbwa How do you know that this set of words is not possible in English?
24. Answer: You have a set of rules in your head, like a computer, that tells you which sounds can be combined to make possible English words and which sounds can’t. These rules are called phonotactic constraints.
25. Language Rules: Examples A speaker of another language has a different “computer”, a different set of rules that compute sound combinations differently ngayon“now” Tagalog gdje “where” Croatian mgla “darkness” Russian mbwa “dog” Bantu
26. Language Rules: Examples Is this sentence? The cow jumped over the fence. Or this? Unhappiness my of friend’s apparent is. Or this? Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
27. Some Language Myths You have to be really smart to learn a language. “between you and I” British English is better than American English. Slang is not “real” language. You have an accent – I don’t.
28. Homework Find someone who speaks English with an accent different from yours. Objectively observe and record those differences. Describe some of those differences – does he or she use different sounds, words, expressions, etc? Be as specific as possible. Give examples. One to two pages, double-spaced, no larger than 12 font size.
29. References: The Study of Language. 2010. Yule, George. 4th Edition. Language Files. 2007. 10thEdition. Bergmann, A.; Hall, K.C.; Ross, S.M. American Tongues. 1988. PBS.