Introduction to Linguistics

Course Overview

• Host: Richard Futrell
• Course: UCI Language Science III
• Class Type: Undergraduate, Introduction to Linguistics
• Course Logistics:
  • Information available on Canvas and a provided URL
  • Online syllabus
  • Lectures and problem sets available online
  • Total of 7 problem sets (lowest grade dropped)
  • 3 multiple choice exams, open book (non-cumulative)
  • Weekly discussion sections over Zoom (mandatory participation)

Textbook

• Optional: "Language Files, 12th Edition"
• Recommended readings from the textbook associated with each lecture
• Enhances understanding of material, but not required

What is Linguistics?

• Definition: Scientific study of language (also called language science)
• Focus on objective analysis vs. intuitive, subjective analyses
• Key Questions:
  • How do words/sentences break into parts?
  • How do languages differ and share commonalities?
  • What makes language easy or hard to understand?
  • Does language affect thought?

Importance of Studying Linguistics

• Not about learning many languages; focuses on scientific study
• Understanding underlying principles aids in learning new languages
• Skills developed:
  • Rigorous symbolic analysis
  • Applicable in various careers:
    • Interpretation and translation
    • Speech pathology
    • Natural language processing (e.g., Siri, Alexa)
    • Clinical psychology
    • Language teaching

Challenges of Language Analysis

• Objections to scientific analysis of language due to complexity
• Examples of allegedly untranslatable words (e.g., Spanish "duende")
• Critical thinking on untranslatability and language expression

Linguistic Analysis Levels

• Multiple levels of analysis:
  • Pairing of form (observable signal) and meaning (mental image or intent)
• Hierarchy of linguistic analysis:
  • Sentences -> Phrases -> Words -> Morphemes -> Phonemes -> Phonetic features
• Corresponding subfields:
  • Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics

Course Structure

• First part: Climbing the ladder of linguistic analysis
• Starting with phonetics, then moving to phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics
• Focus on scientific understanding of language as a machine linking form and meaning
• Later sections relate linguistics to psychology, sociology, and technology

Why Analyze Language Scientifically?

• Language surrounds us: integral to human interaction and society
• Linguistics is a new science with many areas yet to be explored
• Complexity of language:
  • English grammar's complexity illustrated by a nearly 2000-page book
  • Ambiguity challenges in language understanding and processing
  • Questions about language acquisition and its relation to nature
• Invitation to engage in the scientific study of how language works

Conclusion

• Linguistics as a frontier science with many blanks to fill in
• Encouragement to participate in advancing linguistic knowledge
• Next lectures will cover basic questions and then phonetics and phonology.