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

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

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

3 General characteristics of languages -Human beings can speak contrary to animals ! -6000 languages spoken in the world! -Main function of language: describe reality.  How languages differ from one another ?

4 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

5 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

6 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.

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

8 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

9 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.

10 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

11 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

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

13 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

14 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”.

15 -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 » !

16 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

17 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