Contrastive Linguistics In praise of diversity « In praise of diversity »

Introduction Historical background Christopher Colombus - Series of events in the New World Consequences  change in languages.

General characteristics of languages -Human beings can speak contrary to animals ! languages spoken in the world! -Main function of language: describe reality.  How languages differ from one another ?

Outline I) Distinctions between languages 1) Grammatical and lexical distinctions - Exoticism 2) « Schémas d’événements » and « exotic languages » II) Chomsky and the Universal Grammar 1) Who is Noam Chomsky ? 2) The « innate system » and « language universals » III) Despite Chomsky’s theory, languages are different 1) « Linguistics relativity » and exceptions in languages 2) Environmental distinctions : space and geography

1) Grammatical & lexical distinctions - Singular/Plural : (Boy/Boys ; Woman/Women ; Flower/Flowers) -Sheep/Mutton (Only « mouton » in French) -Rivière / Fleuve (French makes the distiction) -Types of rice

Exoticism What is an exotic language ? Definition : Some languages are exotic because they express a concept or an idea differently from another language to talk about the same concept/idea.

Example « Has/Had she broken her right arm ? »  Question of point of view and distinction of tenses between past and present in English.

2) « Schémas d’événements » and exotic languages -Bernd Heine : « to understand the grammar of comparative constructions, it is better to study the differences between languages (or conceptual structures) rather than finding a unique universal structure » -5 schémas : 1) « Action schema » ; 2) « Localisation schema » ; 3) « Source schema » ; 4) « Aim schema » and 5) « Polarity schema »  Help compare the different languages

Comparative of superiority -French : QUE -English : THAN -Latin : QUAM -Do not exist in some other languages !  These languages are « exotic » in the eyes of people speaking another language.

II) Chomsky and the Universal Grammar 1) Who is Noam Chomsky ? -American linguist and philosopher -« Father of modern linguistics » -Most famous theory : « Languages are biologically determined in the human mind » -Is opposed to the behaviourist (behaviour) psychology of B.F Skinner

2) The « innate system » and « language universals » -One single system and one single lexicon in every language -« Innate equipment » -Differences are due to « minor superficial settings » according to Chomsky -Universal language + language universals -Compared with a computer -2 language universals: 1) double articulation of language + 2) limited number of phonemes

« Cognitive approach » -Metaphors are very often used.  Metaphor of time

1) « Linguistics relativity » and exceptions in languages -« Linguistic relativity »: the structure of a language affects the ways in which its respective speakers conceptualize their world. -“Sapir and Whorf hypothesis”. -Differences of visions and perceptions of the world

Isolats & Invariants -2 types of Isolates : Universal configuration experiences « Experience isolates » + « Senses isolates » -Invariants: explanations of grammatical generalizations between languages that are not genetically similar.  Joseph Greenberg: “A language within which the syntax would be “VB, subject, object” puts the adjective right after the noun and languages that go “Subj, Obj, Verb” put the adjective before the noun”.

-Fuchs : Languages find a « menu ».  They make their choices as to what they will use and leave apart. -These general characteristics help linguists find the « Invariants » !

2) Environmental distinctions  Distinctions due to : Space and Geography -Relative positions in space -Examples: North/West ; Inside/Between -Relations between: left/right ; in front of/behind ; visible/non-visible -Tzeltal -Levinson

Conclusion « Every language is precious and exotic » Matthews - The study of language allows us to understand how foreign languages work and how they describe reality. « How wonderfully varied languages can be » Matthews