1. Chapter 6
Language

2. What We Will Learn
How does human language differ from forms of communication in other animals?
How do children acquire language?
How do languages change?
Are some languages superior to others?
What is the relationship between language and culture?
How do people communicate without using words?

3. The Nature of Language Found in all cultures of the world.
Symbolic system of sounds that conveys meaning when put together according to a set of rules.
Meanings attached to any given word in all languages are totally arbitrary.

4. Diversity of Language There are as many as 6,000 discrete languages.
95% of the world’s people speak fewer than 100 of approximately 6,000 languages.
Mandarin accounts for about 1 in every 5 people on earth.
English, Hindi, Spanish, and Russian, accounts for about 45%.

5. Major Languages of the World
Primary Country
Number of Speakers
Mandarin
China
874,000,000
Hindi
India
366,000,000
English
UK/USA
341,000,000
Spanish
Spain/South America
322,000,000
Bengali
Bangladesh
207,000,000
Portuguese
Portugal/Brazil
176,000,000

6. Major Languages of the World
Primary Country
Number of Speakers
Russian
Russia
167,000,000
Japanese
Japan
125,000,000
German
Germany
100,000,000
Korean
Korea
78,000,000
French
France
77,000,000 Wu
China

7. Characteristics of Human Communication Systems
Capable of sending an infinite number of messages.
Humans are only animals that speak of events from the past or in the future (displacement).
Language is transmitted largely through tradition rather than experience alone.

8. Structure of Human Languages
Phonological structure includes rules of how sounds combine to convey meanings.
Each language has a grammatical structure that governs:
How morphemes are formed into words (morphology).
How words are arranged into phrases and sentences (syntax).

9. Morphemes Make Up Words

10. Language Change Language is constantly changing.
When linguists study how languages change over time, they are engaged in diachronic analysis.
Historical linguists may study changes in a single language, such as changes from Old English to modern English.
Comparative Linguists can look at changes that have occurred in related languages.

11. Language Families
A language family comprises all of the languages that derive from its common protolanguage.
The English language is part of the family known as the Indo-European language family.
Germanic is the mother of English.
French and Spanish are sister languages.
Russian, Bulgarian, and Polish share a common Slavic mother.

12. Language Families
Linguists generally agree that there are more than 250 different language families in the world today.
Of these 150 are found in the Americas, 60 in New Guinea, 26 in Australia, 20 in Africa, and 37 in Europe and Asia.

14. Colloquialisms From Baseball
She threw me a curve.
You’re way off base.
You’re batting 1,000 (500, zero) so far.
I want to touch all the bases.
He went to bat for me.
He has two strikes against him.
That’s way out in left field.
He drives me up the wall.

15. Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis
Language influences perception.
Language establishes mental categories that affect the ways people conceptualize the real world.

16. Diglossia
The situational use of language in complex speech communities.
A linguistic situation where two varieties of the same language (such as standard form, dialect, or pidgin) are spoken by the same person at different times and under different social circumstances.

17. Examples of Diglossia High Form Low Form Religious service Marketplace
Political speeches
Instructions to subordinates
Legislative proceedings
Friendly conversations
University lectures
Folk literature
News broadcasts
Radio/TV programs
Newspapers
Cartoons
Poetry
Graffiti

18. Nonverbal Communication
Most messages are sent and received without words:
Facial expressions
Gestures
Eye contact
Touching
Posture

19. Quick Quiz

20. 1. The language characteristic of ________ allows humans to speak of things or events that have happened in the past, or may occur in the future.
displacement
frame substitution
glossolalia
morphology

21. Answer: a
The language characteristic of displacement allows humans to speak of things or events that have happened in the past, or may occur in the future.

22. 2. _______ involves the study of the basic building blocks of a language.
Linguistics
Phonology
Grammar

23. Answer: b
Phonology involves the study of the basic building blocks of a language.

24. 3. The ________ is a combination of phonemes which convey some meaning.
morpheme
allomorph
phoneme
grammar

25. Answer: a
The morpheme is a combination of phonemes which convey some meaning.

26. 4. The rules of a language which controls how people speak and make themselves understood make up its
phonemes.
syntax.
grammar.
morphemes.

27. Answer: c
The rules of a language which controls how people speak and make themselves understood make up its grammar.

28. 5. _______ suggests that language actually establishes mental categories that predispose people to see things in a certain way.
Diachronic analysis
Historical linguistics
Descriptive linguistics
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

29. Answer: d
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that language actually establishes mental categories that predispose people to see things in a certain way.