Download lecture 2nd – Language in Use

Language in Use
• Pragmatics
• Natural and conventional signs
Language in use
• What is linguistics?
Linguistics is the scientific study of the language
where the linguist follows the general methodology
of science. He/she would observe how the language
is used, form hypothesis about the language, test
hypothesis, and finally accept or reject the
hypothesis.
What are the branches of Linguistics?
• Phonetics: The study of speech sounds in their
physical aspects
• Phonology: The study of speech sounds in their
cognitive aspects
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Morphology: The study of the formation of words
Syntax: The study of the formation of sentences
Semantics: The study of meaning
Pragmatics : The study of language use
What are the differences between
Semantics & Pragmatics
Pragmatics meaning Semantics
• Semantics: is concerned with speaker’s competence
to use the language system in producing meaningful
utterances and comprehending the utterances
produced by others. The usual meaning of the
word or sentence.
• Pragmatics: is concerned with the speaker’s ability
to produce meaning from specific
situation.(recognize/relate/ interpret/infer)
The meaning that the word has in certain
circumstances or specific contest.
• Language is a system of symbols through
which people communicate with each other.
Written
symbols
Signed
Spoken
• Language Community:
People who use the same language to communicate
with each other. English community, Arabic
community, Mexican community,…etc.
• Within each language community, there are
differences due to geographical or social nature:
• Dialects: Different constituents that are found in
others speeches or languages
American English, British English, Australian English
Palestinian Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, Saudi Arabic, etc.
• Language is a Main constituent of the
culture.
• Cultural groupings are not necessarily
coterminous with language communities.
• Communication takes place in a large
common background.
Natural
Signs
Linguistic
Conventional
• Natural Signs:
 All the sorts of sights, sounds, and smells
that can be observed and interpreted.
 They are unintentional.
 There is no human sender nor receiver
 They are the products of various events.
 Footprint
 Fire
 Black Cloud
 Moving Treetops
 Stomach
Conventional Signs:
The auditory and visual devices that people have
created to send routine message to one another.
 They are intentional.
 There is human sender and receiver.
 Auditory Signs:
 The bells
 The Sirens
 The guns in races
 Whistles

Visual Signs:
Getting information from any sign
comes in three steps:
• Perception:
• The sign and the observer share a context of
place and time in which the sign attract the
observer’s attention.
• Identification
• Every perception is a unique experience. To
say that we ‘recognize’ a phenomenon means
that we match it with previous experiences
stored in our memory.
• Interpretation
• Meaning are often personal. The meaning of
any sign depends on the space-time context is
which we observe it.