English Grammar Fundamentals: Understanding Principles and Universal Grammar, Study notes of Linguistics

Download English Grammar Fundamentals: Understanding Principles and Universal Grammar and more Study notes Linguistics in PDF only on Docsity! ENG/LIN 512 (8-25-05) - p.1 Some fundamental assumptions of (Modern (English Grammar)) I. A language is a system of principles for representing meanings by means of speech sounds. II. Some characteristics of grammatical principles A. Grammatical principles distinguish GRAMMATICAL expressions from UNGRAMMATICAL expressions 1. DESCRIPTIVE vs PRESCRIPTIVE conceptions of (un)grammaticality 2. Dialect variation: regional variation; standard vs nonstandard dialects 3. Grammaticality is distinct from FALSEHOOD, SEMANTIC ANOMALY, PRAGMATIC ANOMALY, and PROCESSING DIFFICULTY. B. Grammatical principles determine an expression’s structure C. Language users’ knowledge of their language’s grammatical principles is largely unconscious. D. PROBLEM: How to investigate a language’s grammatical principles? 1. Infer them from records of language use; necessary in the case of extinct languages. Problems: performance errors; accidental vs principled gaps 2. Infer them by formulating and refining hypotheses about native speakers’ ACCEPTABILITY JUDGMENTS a. Example b. Potential problem: Unacceptability can result from something other than ungrammaticality, e.g. pragmatic anomaly or processing difficulties. E. A language’s grammatical principles are of two different types: 1. those peculiar to the particular language (its PARTICULAR GRAMMAR) 2. those that it shares with all human languages (the principles of UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR) 3. Where does Universal Grammar come from? 4. Why aren’t all languages alike? (1) Who did you see? (2) *Sandy cleaned up it. What are you talking about? *Kim was struck as a genius by Sandy. She decided to really work hard. *Which book did you meet the guy who wrote? (3) %He nearly drownded. (4) %I ain’t sayin’ nothin’. %There's coyotes out there! %He be talkin’ all the time. %We might could do that. %He talkin’ about hisself. (5) Dick Cheney is president of the United States. (6) Dick Cheney is a U.S. citizen but is not a U.S. citizen. (7) Dick Cheney molted. (8) Every senator someone Dick Cheney met talked to left. (9) a. Jane is the manager of the new Walmart. b. Where is the manager of the new Walmart?