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Universals and Diversities
Lecture 14
Language diversities
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Edward Sapire and Benjamin Whorf,
proclaimed that the structure of the
language people habitually use influences
the ways they think and believe. Language
will mould our view of the world.
1) The strong version of the theory emphases the
decisive role of Language as the shaper of our
thinking patterns.
2) The weak version of this hypothesis suggests
that there is a correlation between Language,
culture, and thought, but the cross-cultural
differences thus produced in our ways of
thinking are relative, rather than categorical.
Science and Linguistics
Benjamin Lee Whorf
It was found that the background linguistic
system (in other words, the grammar) of each
language is not merely a reproducing
instrument for voicing ideas but rather is itself
the shaper of ideas, the program and guide for
people's mental activity, for their analysis of
impressions, for their synthesis of their mental
stock in trade. Formulation of ideas is not an
independent process, strictly rational in the old
sense, but is part of a particular grammar and
differs, from slightly to greatly, among different
grammars.
We dissect nature along lines laid down by our
native languages. The categories and types that
we isolate from the world of phenomena we do
not find there because they stare every observer
in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented
in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has
to be organized by our minds– and this means
largely by the linguistic systems in our minds. We
cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and
ascribe significances as we do, largely because
we are parties to an agreement to organize it in
this way–an agreement that holds throughout our
speech community and is codified in the patterns
of our language.
Standard Average European
Imaginary space
past
real space
past
thoughts, wishes, dreams, possibilities
present
future
external reality
present
future
Hopi an Indian language in Arizona
Unmanifest
thoughts, wishes, dreams, possibilities
Remote past
future
recent
past
Manifested
edge of present
(just emerged)
Mythylogical Realm
Unmanifest
edge of
present
(about to
emerge)
Cultural diversities
What is Culture?
Elements:
Ideas
beliefs
values
institutions
Products
Behaviors
literature
folklore
art
music
customs
habits
dress
foods
Linkage vs. linear thinking
pattern
Chinese pattern of
thinking: wholeness
Western pattern of thinking:
cause and effect
Another example

Chinese artists can paint the scenery
along a whole river in a long scroll, by
constantly changing visual focuses.
Classical Western art lacks such
horizontal magnificence because almost
all their masters stick to a single
perspective.
Multi-focus drawing
The Chinese tense
system is also multifocused: the present tense
can be used to describe
the past, present, or
future.
Multi-focus description
去年元夜时
花市灯如昼
月上柳梢头
人约黄昏后
Multi-focus description
今年元夜时
月与灯依旧
不见去年人
泪湿春裳袖
Language universals
The concept of language universals
arose in the debate about the
Whorfian hypothesis which
focused on language diversities.
.
There are two major methodological
approaches to language universals:
one represented by Chomsky, the
other represented by Greenberg.
The one-language approach based
on language innateness was
proposed by Chomsky.
Since language is species-specific,
the universality of language can be
studied by looking closely at one's
mother tongue. Chomsky believes that
the intuition of a native speaker can be
relied on to offer judgments of
grammaticality.
The all-languages approach was
proposed by Greenberg.
Since one of the things we want
to find out in work on language
universals is the range of
variation found across languages
and the limits placed on the
variation, it would be a serious
methodological error to base our
study on a single language.
For Chomsky, UG is a premise
For Greenberg,
UG is a
presumption
Greenberg’s criticism against
Chomsky
There are certain language
universals that simply cannot be
predicated of an individual language.
In English the determiner precedes its
noun (that book), but in Malay
determiners follow their nouns (surat
itu).
Chomskyan criticism against
Greenberg
Many languages have become
extinct without ever having been
recorded, and many languages will
arise in the future. These two sets of
languages are unavailable to us, and
therefore a large number of languages
are not amenable to investigation.
Some important
concepts of language
universals
Implicational and non-implicational
(according to Greenberg)
Implicational universals are
conditional universals, e.g. 'If the
basic order of a language is VSO,
it must have a preposition.' Nonimplicational universals are
unconditional or independent universals,
e.g. 'All spoken languages must have
vowels."
Absolute and relative universals
Another parameter along which
universals can be classified is that
distinguishing absolute universals, i.e.
those that are exceptionless, and
relative universals, i.e. those that exist
as tendencies, but do still have
exceptions. This distinction is
independent of all the distinctions that
have been discussed above.
Language universals
&
linguistic
typology
At first sight, the study of language
universals and the study of language typology
might seem to be opposites, even in conflict
with one another: language universals
research is concerned with finding those
properties that are common to all human
languages, Yet, in practice, the two studies
proceed in parallel.
Greenberg's study of word order
He believed that the structure VSO must
have a preposition, and actually there can be
only four kinds of pattern:
(1)
+VSO
+preposition
(2)
+VSO
-preposition
(3)
-VSO
+preposit
(4)
-VSO
-preposition
A careful study of a wide range of
languages showed that (2) was non-existent,
so Greenberg's hypothesis was supported.
Greenberg’s
Universal 1:
In declarative sentences
with nominal subject and
object, the dominant order
is almost always one in
which the subject
precedes the object.
Pr :the existence of prepositions
Po: no prepositions
A: with adjective preceding noun
N:with noun preceding adjective
VSO
SVO
SOV
Po-A
0
1
6
Po-N
0
2
5
Pr-A
0
4
0
Pr-N
6
6
0
Greenberg was able to derive a few
more universals from the summary
table:
Universal 2: In languages with prepositions,
the genitive almost always follows the
governing noun, while in languages with
postpositions it almost always precedes.
Universal 3: Languages with dominant VSO
order are always prepositional.
Universal 4: With overwhelmingly greater
than chance frequency, languages with SOV
order are postpositional.
Universal 5: If a language has dominant
SOV order and the genitive follows the
governing noun, then the adjective
likewise follows the noun.
Universal 6: All languages with
dominant VSO order have SVO as an
alternative or as the only alternative order.
Universal 7: If in a language with
dominant SOV order, there is no
alternative basic order, or only OSV as the
alternative, then all adverbial modifiers of
the verb likewise precede the verb.
Greenberg then went
on to give 38 more
universals that we will
not give here because of
shortage of space .
The distinction between 'marked"
and 'unmarked' parameters.
This is another universal that has attracted
the attention of both approaches
Unmarked
Marked
boy
boys
man
woman
dog
bitch
deep
shallow
good
bad
These examples show that the
idea of markedness is moving from
the morphological form to the
semantic aspect. In general the
unmarked form is more general in
sense or has a wider distribution than
the marked form.
For example,
____
Man is a political animal.
How____
deep is the water?
What is the _____
good of doing it?
unmarked
unmarked
unmarked
The distinction seems to be a universal
across all languages. Chomsky also
agrees that universal grammar consists of
core grammar ( with unmarked rules) and
peripheral grammar (with marked rules).
Implications in
translation
If there are no similarities between
languages, how can speakers of
different tongues express the same
meaning? If there are no diversities
between languages, how can the same
meaning “enjoy” the immense variety of
structural or pragmatic splendors in
different versions?
Please translate：

但愿人长久，千里
共婵娟。

二人同心，
其利断金。

We wish each other a long life so
as to share the beauty of this
graceful moonlight, even though
miles apart.
 If two people are of the same
mind, their sharpness can cut
through metal.
Example
by Wang Qiong
我家门前有些摆
摊儿的，都是生意人。
大凡生意人都懂得
“一步差三市”这个
道理。就是说，别看
你的店只和人家差了
三步，但景气的程度
要差了很多，也许人
家的铺子红火热闹，
你的铺子却开不了张。
In front of my house are
quite a few stalls, whose
owners, like tradesmen
elsewhere, all know the
saying “Locations make a
difference in prosperity”.
That is to say, even if your
stall stands side by side with
someone else’s, your
neighbor may enjoy a
constant stream of shoppers,
but yours may be patronized
by few.
Example：语序重组
There are many wonderful stories to tell
about the places I visited and the people I met.
我访问了一些地方，遇到不少人，要谈起来，
奇妙的事多着呢。

译评：有时英语长句的叙述层次与汉语相反，往
往把事情的结果先说了出来，所以译这类句子时
宜从后面译起，自下而上，逆着英语原文的顺序
翻译。
Example:



Absence and distance make the overseas
Chinese heart increasingly fond of their
motherland.
华侨背井离乡，远居国外，因此他们在感情上
越来越向往祖国。
汉语惯常用人或具体事物作主语，而英语则爱
用抽象名词作主语。
Translation study is a branch of applied
linguistics, and it is linguistics that lays a solid
foundation for successful translators, whose
brilliance is none other than seeking a best
balance between language universals and
diversities.