1 (Introduction to Word Grammar) Richard Hudson Joensuu November 2010 Words are concepts.

2 Word Grammar’s European roots Sweet (UK, ) de Saussure (Switzerland, ) Jespersen (Scandinavia, ) Firth (UK, ) Tesnière (France, ) Hjelmslev (Scandinavia, ) …. Halliday (UK, 1925-)

3 Word Grammar’s American roots Sapir ( ) Labov (1927-) Chomsky (1928-) Lamb (1929-) Fillmore (1929-) Langacker (1942-) Jackendoff (1945-) Sag (1949-) etc.

4 The main ideas of WG The word is (almost) the only unit of syntax –dependency structure, not phrase structure Language is knowledge –I-language –ordinary knowledge, not special Language knowledge is a network –relations, not rules, principles or processes

5 Concepts Concepts are the elements of thought –‘room’, ‘talk’, ‘Joensuu’, ‘in’, ‘speaker’ They may be complex –‘a room in Joensuu’ –‘Joensuu is in Finland’ (‘proposition’) They only exist ‘in the head’ –tools for thinking.

6 Words and concepts Most linguists contrast words and concepts –meanings are concepts –but words just ‘express concepts’ –Jackendoff: meaning is ‘Conceptual Structure’ But in WG, words are concepts, and so are: –meanings –morphs –phonemes, etc.

7 So what? So words are concepts in a network. Why should a linguistic researcher care? Because if they are, it matters for 1.data 2.structures 3.research

8 1. Data If words are concepts, they only exist in individual minds. And the same for 'languages', 'dialects' etc. But individuals minds –vary –contain uncertainties. So we shouldn't look for an external 'truth'.

9 2. Structures Concepts have a structure Not an ‘internal’ structure –a concept is just a node in a network But an external structure –consisting of all the links to other concepts –so the concept binds these links together –it records a significant correlation in experience

10 The concept for ‘bird’ bird creature nest flying 2 feathers home movement leg # cover

11 Is-a and inheritance The is-a triangle sits on the super- category. –Bird is-a creature. It allows examples to inherit properties from super-categories –e.g. if we know something is-a bird, then –it inherits ‘2 legs’, etc. –and also any properties of creatures (e.g. skin).

12 The concept for the word BIRD BIRD noun bird LINTU {bird} English meaning Finnish translation stem language

13 The conceptual network round BIRD BIRD noun LINTU {bird} Englishbird creature nest flying 2 feathers

14 Activation In a mental network, nodes are active. Nodes become active when we use them. And their activity spreads to neighbours. How do we know? –errors –priming experiments –functional brain scans

15 Hearing BIRD BIRD noun LINTU {bird} Englishbird creature nest flying 2 feathers

16 Saying BIRD BIRD noun LINTU {bird} Englishbird creature nest flying 2 feathers

17 Thinking BIRD BIRD noun LINTU {bird} Englishbird creature nest flying 2 feathers

18 The network hypothesis Knowledge is a network of –percepts (e.g. the visual image of a bird) –motor-programs (e.g. how to walk) –feelings (e.g. liking) –concepts (e.g. ‘bird’, BIRD) A concept is just a network node –its ‘content’ is only in its links.

19 So, in language, … there are no ‘boxes’ with ‘boundaries’. ‘Language’ is the part of our total network which contains words. But research is still possible without boxes. In fact, it’s even better without boxes –because networks are everywhere.

20 3. Research in … pragmatics discourse structure sociolinguistics bilingualism vocabulary morphology etc.

21 Researching pragmatics Metaphor –How do we interpret He flew to her side? –By spreading activation: flew to ‘flying’ to ‘moving’ and ‘fast’. Reference assignment –How do we know who he refers to? –By spreading activation: select the most active node for a male person

22 Research questions in pragmatics What is the network behind each metaphor? Why do we misunderstand metaphors? Why do we misunderstand reference? How do we use syntactic information? How does activation explain ‘relevance’?

23 Research in discourse structure Speech acts, e.g. greetings –How do we understand Hello or Terve? –Not as ordinary referential meaning. Social interaction –e.g. ‘meeting’, with a ‘start’ and an ‘end’. –These are part of the conceptual network. –But so are ‘speaker’ and ‘addressee’. –NB Most linguistic theories exclude such things

24 A greeting HELLO time speaker meeting start meet-er

25 Research questions in discourse structure What are the networks needed? How do we remember social interaction? How do misunderstandings arise? How does social interaction relate to speech acts?

26 Research in sociolinguistics Quantitative sociolinguistics –Why use both was and were with we? –Because of network links to different social categories e.g. ‘local’ and ‘educated’. –and each of these links has an activation level.

27 local person Inherent variability we were speaker speaker educated person BE, past we was

28 Research questions in sociolinguistics What social categories do we distinguish? How do we learn inherent variability? How well does spreading activation explain observed variability?

29 English Finnish Code-mixing/borrowing You’re welcome... Tää näitten Grandma oil erilai- erikoinen. ‘This grandmother of theirs was differ- strange’ Researching bilingualism Tää language Grandma language

30 Research questions in bilingualism Are there syntactic constraints on code- mixing? How does social context affect code- mixing? How do bilinguals manage their languages? How are learning and use linked? How do ‘hyperpolyglots’ succeed?

31 Researching vocabulary Semantic relations –synonymy: TRY – ATTEMPT, BIRD – LINTU –hyponymy: BIRD – ROBIN –diathesis: DEAD – DIE – KILL These are all network relations

32 Lexical structure TRY ATTEMPT trying BIRD LINTU bird ROBIN robin

33 Diathesis DEAD DIE KILL dead dying killing being changing affecting result meaning

34 Research questions in vocabulary What lexical relations are there? –Is every language different? Do they relate words or meanings? How does vocabulary grow? –And how does it deepen? –And what part does education play?

35 Researching morphology Latin: am-av-er-i-tis ‘you (plural) will have loved’ {am} {av} {er} {i} {tis} AM perfect future 2 nd -person plural realization

36 Research questions in morphology Are words realised by morphs or phones? How to handle syncretism? –e.g. passive and perfect in English was taken – has taken How to distinguish degrees of irregularity? –e.g. take – took, go – went What is the morphological network?

37 What about … phonology –not well developed in Word Grammar syntax –next talk language learning language processing –another talk

38 Conclusion In every area of linguistics, the structures can be analysed with networks –maybe better than with rules or processes Networks are better because they guarantee compatibility with –other areas of linguistics –psychology.

39 Kiitos This slideshow can be downloaded from For more on Word Grammar, see

40 Kiitos This slideshow can be downloaded from For more on Word Grammar, see My home page, with address: