What is Linguistics?: Crash Course Linguistics #1

Summary

Crash Course Linguistics introduces the study of language as a natural phenomenon. Host Taylor explores the fundamental questions linguists ask, such as how language functions universally and why it varies among individuals. Through an engaging 'Thought Bubble' scenario, the video delves into key linguistic concepts like the duality of patterning, arbitrariness of the sign, displacement, and reflexivity. It highlights the unique features of human language compared to animal communication and emphasizes the importance of linguistics in understanding language variations and its practical applications in various fields.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Language is omnipresent, influencing every aspect of our lives from birth to death.
• 🔍 Linguistics is the scientific study of language, aiming to understand its underlying structure and function.
• 🌍 The script introduces the concept of linguistic relativity through the 'gavagai' example, highlighting the challenge of translation and interpretation.
• 🤔 The necessity of making tentative assumptions in language learning and the iterative process of refining our understanding is emphasized.
• 🐰 The 'duality of patterning' concept is explained, showing how individual sounds combine to create meaning in language.
• 📝 The 'arbitrariness of the sign' is a key feature of language, meaning there's no inherent reason why a word corresponds to a particular object or concept.
• 📚 Language can be studied at various levels, from phonetics and phonology to morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.
• 🌐 Language is unique for its 'displacement' feature, allowing us to talk about things not present in the immediate context.
• 💬 The 'reflexivity' of language is highlighted, meaning we can discuss and analyze language itself using language.
• 🚀 Linguistics is relevant to a wide range of professions, from speech pathologists to writers, and is key for anyone interested in understanding human communication.
• 🌟 The script concludes by emphasizing the importance of linguistics in fostering understanding and communication across different languages and cultures.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of linguistics as introduced in the video?

Linguistics is the study of language, focusing on how it works, its structure, and how humans use it in communication.

Why is 'gavagai' used as an example in the video?

The word 'gavagai' is used to illustrate the challenges in understanding language without context, showing how a single word could mean multiple things depending on interpretation.

What is the 'duality of patterning' in language?

The duality of patterning refers to how language operates on two levels: individual sounds or handshapes that have no meaning by themselves, and the combination of these forms to create meaningful words.

What does the concept of 'arbitrariness of the sign' mean in linguistics?

The arbitrariness of the sign means that there is no inherent connection between a word and the object or concept it represents; different languages use different words for the same thing.

How does the video explain the concept of 'displacement' in language?

Displacement in language refers to the ability to talk about things that are not present in the immediate environment, such as past or future events, or hypothetical situations.

What is the significance of 'reflexivity' in language?

Reflexivity in language is the ability to use language to talk about language itself, which is essential for studying linguistics and discussing how language works.

How do animals' communication systems differ from human language, according to the video?

Animals' communication systems, like bees' waggle dances or dogs' tail wagging, lack features such as displacement, duality of patterning, and arbitrariness, which are essential components of human language.

What are the main levels of structure in language that linguists study?

Linguists study several levels of structure in language: phonetics (sounds), phonology (sound patterns), morphology (word structure), syntax (sentence structure), semantics (meaning), and pragmatics (meaning in context).

Why does the video emphasize the importance of studying language varieties?

The video emphasizes studying language varieties because they provide insights into how people actually use language in different contexts, beyond the standardized forms taught in schools.

How is the study of linguistics relevant to different professions?

Linguistics is relevant to professions such as speech pathology, language teaching, writing, editing, and any field that requires a deep understanding of how language functions as a tool.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introduction to Language and Linguistics

Taylor introduces the concept of linguistics, emphasizing the omnipresence of language in our lives and its study as a natural phenomenon. Through a hypothetical scenario involving a foreign language, Taylor illustrates the complexities and assumptions involved in understanding and communicating language. The segment highlights key features of language such as the duality of patterning and the arbitrariness of signs, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of linguistic principles.

05:05

🐇 The Arbitrary Nature of Language and its Unique Features

This paragraph delves into the arbitrary nature of signs in language, using examples from both spoken and signed languages. Taylor explains the concepts of displacement and reflexivity, demonstrating how these features differentiate human language from other communication systems like those of bees and parrots. The discussion also touches on the vast diversity of languages and dialects, emphasizing that all varieties are valuable for linguistic study.

10:12

📚 The Scope and Relevance of Linguistics

Taylor discusses their background in linguistics, emphasizing its importance and their excitement to explore the subject further. The paragraph outlines the structure of upcoming episodes, which will cover various levels of linguistic analysis from phonetics to pragmatics. It also highlights the practical applications of linguistic knowledge in various fields, reinforcing the relevance of understanding language to better comprehend human behavior and communication.

Keywords

💡Linguistics

Linguistics is the scientific study of language and its structure. It involves analyzing language form, language meaning, and language in context. The video highlights how linguistics helps us understand the big picture of how language works, including the mental and social mechanisms that enable human communication.

💡Arbitrariness of the Sign

The concept that there is no inherent connection between the form of a word (its sound or shape) and its meaning. For example, the word 'rabbit' could just as easily be 'gavagai' in another language, as there is no natural link between the word and the animal it represents. This idea is fundamental to understanding how different languages can use completely different signs to refer to the same object.

💡Duality of Patterning

This refers to the two levels at which language operates: individual sounds or handshapes (which are meaningless on their own) and their combinations (which create meaning). For instance, the sounds 'b', 'ʌ', 'n', and 'i' don't mean anything individually, but when combined as 'bunny', they form a meaningful word. This dual structure is a key characteristic of human language.

💡Displacement

Displacement is the ability of language to refer to things that are not present in the immediate physical environment, such as events in the past, future, or hypothetical scenarios. This feature sets human language apart from many other forms of communication, such as the waggle dance of bees, which can only indicate present resources.

💡Reflexivity

Reflexivity in language refers to the ability to use language to talk about language itself. This meta-linguistic awareness is crucial for linguistics as it allows humans to analyze and discuss language, as demonstrated in the video where the host uses language to explain linguistic concepts.

💡Phonetics

Phonetics is the study of the physical sounds of human speech (or the equivalent aspects of sign languages). It focuses on how sounds are produced and perceived, providing the foundational elements that combine to form words and sentences. The video mentions phonetics as the starting point for understanding the smallest units of language.

💡Phonology

Phonology examines the patterns and rules by which sounds are organized and used in particular languages. While phonetics deals with the raw sounds, phonology is concerned with how those sounds function within a language. For instance, how different languages may use the same sounds in distinct ways.

💡Morphology

Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words and how they are formed. It explores how smaller units called morphemes (like prefixes, suffixes, and roots) combine to create words. The video touches on morphology as one of the layers of language structure that linguists analyze.

💡Syntax

Syntax refers to the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences in a language. It involves the arrangement of words to create meaningful sentences. The video introduces syntax as the study of how words group together, playing a critical role in conveying meaning.

💡Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It focuses on the meanings of words, phrases, sentences, and texts, and how those meanings are understood by speakers. The video connects semantics to both individual word meanings and how meaning is constructed in different social contexts.

Highlights

Language is everywhere — from conversations and social media to books and cereal boxes, shaping our lives from infancy to our last words.

Linguistics is the study of language, aiming to understand how language works, how it’s processed in the mind, and why different people use language in unique ways.

The Gavagai example illustrates the challenges of interpreting words in a foreign language, showing that words may not always have direct translations.

Language consists of two levels: the form (like sounds or handshapes) and the combinations of these forms that create meaning, known as the duality of patterning.

The arbitrariness of the sign explains that there’s no inherent connection between the words we use and the objects they refer to; this feature differentiates language from other communication forms.

Sign languages, while they may seem less arbitrary, still involve arbitrary signs. For example, the ASL sign for 'rabbit' may resemble a rabbit’s ears, but this is not a universal standard.

Displacement is a unique feature of language, allowing us to discuss things not present in the immediate environment, such as past events or hypothetical situations.

Reflexivity is another key feature of language, enabling us to use language to talk about language itself, essential for the study of linguistics.

Animal communication systems lack the full range of features that define human language, such as displacement and the duality of patterning.

Emojis lack the reflexivity feature and therefore can’t function as a full language on their own.

The infinite creative potential of human language stems from the limited set of physical tools we use (hands, mouth, etc.) to produce it.

Linguists study not only standardized languages but also the diverse varieties and dialects that people actually use in their everyday lives.

Linguistics covers multiple levels of language structure, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Linguists employ various methods, such as observation, experiments, and introspection, to study language.

Understanding linguistics has practical applications in fields like speech pathology, technology, education, law, and creative writing.

Transcripts

Hello, I'm Taylor and welcome to Crash Course Linguistics!

Language is everywhere — in old books and new words, in a long conversation with a friend and a short chat with a stranger,

the endless streams on our social media feeds and the snippets on the back of a cereal box.

Language spans our whole lives — from one of the first things we encounter as babies to our famous last words.

Language is… what I'm doing right now!

We can observe and study how language works like any other natural phenomenon, and that’s Linguistics.

Linguists try to understand the big picture — how does language work in general?

What's going on in our minds and our societies that allows every group of humans to have language, spoken or signed?

And why do each of us use language slightly differently?

[THEME MUSIC]

Linguistics is the study of language, but we're already using language right now…

so let's back up a second.

What do we mean by studying language?

Let’s go to the Thought Bubble.

Let’s pretend I’m on a trip to another country.

The sun is shining, and I’m enjoying some time in a place where I don’t know anyone and I don’t speak the language.

Then I meet another person walking along, and while we’re both admiring the flowers, a rabbit hops into view.

The person points at the hopping rabbit and says ‘gavagai!’.

So I think, “that must be the word in this person’s language for ‘rabbit’.

If I reply with ‘rabbit’ we could both learn something!"

But maybe that's not exactly what the other person meant.

Does "gavagai" mean “rabbit”? Maybe it just means “fuzzy animal,” or “hopping” or just "Hey look!"

Or even, as the linguistic philosopher W.V. Quine proposed, "Lo, an undetached rabbit-part!"

Or maybe this particular rabbit’s name is Gavagai.

I could ask, but I don't speak the language yet.

And figuring out how to ask about these complex ideas requires us to first know some more basic, concrete words —

like "rabbit," which is what we're trying to figure out in the first place.

We need to get out of this loop.

Let's start by making some tentative assumptions, but we'll stay prepared for some of them to be wrong.

I’ll smile, point at the hopping bunny, and say “rabbit.”

At least, I’m indicating a desire to communicate, even though neither of us can be sure exactly what the other person is trying to say.

As I walk with my new friend, pointing at animals and sharing words, both of us can test and refine our initial linguistic hypotheses.

Maybe we encounter some baby rabbits and I learn that they're not called "Gavagai," so I can update my mental entry for "Gavagai" to "fully-grown rabbit question mark?"

Maybe I’ll realize something about English that I hadn't noticed before, when I try to explain it — like the subtle difference between "rabbit" and "bunny."

Thanks, Thought Bubble!

As we just saw, language is a unique area to study because we need to use it to study it.

On the one hand, this means that we can do a lot of linguistics without needing fancy equipment, because language is right there in our brains and in the people around us.

On the other hand, this also means that we need to be really precise about cultivating meta-linguistic awareness —

we need to test and examine our assumptions about how language works.

To do this, linguists have identified a few key features that distinguish a language from other ways of communicating.

First, language exists at two levels.

There's the level of the form, like sounds or handshapes, which don't have meaning in themselves.

Then there's the level of combinations of forms that create meaning.

So, when it comes to speech, the sounds b, ʌ, n and i don’t mean anything individually, but can be combined to make ‘bunny’ like our new friend Gavagai.

Or, those same sounds can be rearranged to make ‘nubby’, because it’s the combination that makes the meaning, not the individual sounds.

This idea that words are made of two levels of structure is known as the duality of patterning.

Also, when we look at other languages, we can see there’s no reason why a rabbit has to be called “bunny.”

It could be conejo, kelinci, gavagai or rabbit.

There’s no inherent connection between the word ‘bunny’ and this furry thing it refers to: all these other sequences of sounds and handshapes also refer to this animal.

The words we use are ‘signs’ that reference things in the world, like how a street sign labels which street you're on.

But usually there’s no specific reason why a particular word, or set of smaller units of sound or shapes, are used.

So we can say the choice is arbitrary.

This feature of language is known as the arbitrariness of the sign, and distinguishes a language from other kinds of communication.

Now, it's a bit confusing, because "sign" means two things in linguistics: first, a “sign” is anything that conveys a meaning beyond itself.

So the word "rain" and the smell of moisture in the air can both be signs of rain.

The word "rain" is an arbitrary sign, since it’s unconnected to the weather.

A human could've said the word rain and pointed at a rock or a tree or Gavagai and the sign could've stuck.

But instead it's a sign that we arbitrarily (but collectively) decided to use for this kind of weather.

But the smell of moisture is a non-arbitrary sign, since it’s super connected to the experience of water droplets falling from the sky.

Second, we use “sign” in “a signed language.”

Here, we mean a language which is produced using the hands, arms, and face

(compared to a spoken language, which is produced using the tongue, lips, and throat).

So, the “signs” that make up “sign languages” are a subset of the first kind of signs, as are spoken words: the kind of signs that convey a meaning beyond themselves.

Speaking of sign languages, it might be tempting to assume that sign languages are less arbitrary,

because in words like “rabbit” in ASL, the handshape looks a bit like a rabbit’s ear.

But there are still many arbitrary reasons this signal means ‘rabbit’ and not something else.

For example, the Australian Sign Language or Auslan sign RABBIT looks very different.

Spoken languages can have less-arbitrary-seeming patterns, too.

In Swahili “chafya” means “sneeze.”

Both “chafya” and ‘sneeze’ have sounds that rush out of your throat like the friction of a sneeze.

In contrast, ‘mbweu’ means ‘burp’, and both these words have the burp of a serious belch.

Ooh, 'belch,' that also kinda has the feeling.

Still arbitrary, though!

Anyway, once we start building up meaning from smaller units, there are two more features that make language different from just any old communication system.

One is that we can use language to talk about things that happened in the past, will happen in the future, or may happen in other worlds.

Being able to talk about things that aren’t right here right now is known as displacement.

Another is that we can use language to talk about language — otherwise it would make doing linguistics hard.

These videos, impossible!

This ability to get meta about language is the feature of reflexivity.

When we examine other kinds of communication with these four design features in mind, we can see how they stack up against language.

Bees do a complicated waggle dance to show their fellow bees where to find nectar, but they can’t do it to tell a story about some great flowers they found last week or hope to find tomorrow.

Their waggle dances can't manage the full range of the displacement feature.

A parrot may be able to mimic the sound of many words in a language but it doesn't understand the meaning of those sounds.

Parrots don't manage duality of patterning.

A dog wagging its tail always means that it's happy, regardless of what culture the dog lives in — it's not an arbitrary sign.

Animals can communicate, but none of the ways animals communicate have all the design features of human language.

Beyond animals, we know emojis aren’t going to become their own language until we can use emojis to write a story about emojis —

emojis don't have the feature of reflexivity.

Because of the unique features of human languages, the number of words and sentences we can make out of our bodies is infinite —

even though the human body that we use to make them is limited.

With two hands, two arms and ten fingers, there's only so many distinct signs we can make, and with the tongue, lips, teeth and throat, there's only so many sounds.

With this small set of shared ingredients, humans have created over 7000 identified languages and so many varieties within them.

For example, you may know someone who speaks your language but has a different word for something than you do, or pronounces the same word differently than you do.

Like that thing that you might call a water fountain?

I call it a bubbler.

Linguists are interested in all the different varieties of languages that people speak and sign — not just the standardized version that gets taught in schools.

That’s because all language varieties tell us interesting things about how people use language.

Linguists study the variations within languages, as well as language itself.

They approach the study of language by looking at the different levels of structure that all languages have in common.

We’ll tackle each of these in more depth throughout Crash Course Linguistics, but today, let’s start with the smallest chunks first and move through the larger and larger units.

First, there’s the study of individual sounds in spoken languages, or handshapes in signed languages, which is called phonetics.

Languages combine these individual sounds or handshapes into words according to specific patterns, and the study of that is called phonology.

Next, they can study how longer words can often be broken down into an internal structure, an area called morphology.

The study of how words group together to make sentences is syntax.

And we can study and talk about the meaning of words and sentences, or semantics, and meaning in a larger social context, or pragmatics.

There are also ways we can analyze the structure of these different levels of language, or the meaning that they create.

We can look at the language choices people make and how this relates to society, history, or the brain.

Linguists find language to study in many different ways, like observing people, asking them questions, or doing experiments with them.

Linguists can work with existing text, recordings, video, or historical documents, too.

And because we each know at least one language, we can sometimes even figure certain things out by consulting the language knowledge in our own heads —

a process called introspection.

Regardless of what level of linguistic structure or perspective we focus on, linguists, and we here at Crash Course, are interested in language as it's actually used.

We're not talking about ‘correct’ language, which is a pretty murky concept anyway.

After all, if we were studying birdsong, we wouldn't go around telling sparrows that they're not singing right because they don't sound like parrots!

Instead, we'd want to analyze all birds, or all language varieties, regardless of where they stand in the—umm—pecking order.

Linguistics is relevant to anyone who uses language, but it’s especially relevant to certain people and industries.

It’s directly relevant to speech pathologists, and people building speech recognition tools like the voice assistant on your phone.

A knowledge of linguistics can also help people who teach grammar or languages.

It’s also useful for lawyers, writers, editors, poets, journalists and people who work in jobs that require thoughtful understanding of language as a tool.

And finally, understanding linguistics and how language works is valuable for anyone who wants to better understand humans and the world we live in.

I studied linguistics as part of my major in college, along with writing and Spanish.

Linguistics has made me more aware of how important language is, so I’m a big fan and I’m excited to learn more with you.

For the next 15 videos here in Crash Course Linguistics, we'll be exploring language at all of these different levels together, and building our understanding of language and each other.

So when you and a stranger watch a rabbit hop across a field together, your two languages might not have a direct translation for what you want to say about that experience.

But we can learn to understand the similarities and differences between languages and build communication thanks to the tools of linguistics.

Next time: we'll be asking what is a word?

And what are words made of?

See you then!

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