THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT COURSE IV UNIT I

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT COURSE IV UNIT I PRESENTED BY AMIT DAS ( 1 ST SEMESTER (2018 - 2020 . ROLL NO – 02 UBT AND EVENING COLLEGE

WHAT IS LANGUAGE? • LANGUAGE IS A SYSTEM OF ARBITRARY VOCAL SYMBOLS BY MEANS OF WHICH A SOCIAL GROUP COMMUNICATES. – BLOCH AND TAGER • A LANGUAGE IS A SYSTEM OF CONVENTIONAL VOCAL SIGNS BY MEANS OF WHICH HUMAN BEINGS COMMUNICATE.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF LANGUAGE USAGE: THEORIES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT – BLOOMFIELD, CHOMSKY, SAUSSURE

FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE (1857 -1913( • FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE WAS A SWISS LINGUIST. • FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE IS CALLED THE FATHER OF MODERN LINGUISTIC. • HE COULD SPEAK IN GREEK, FRENCH, GERMAN, ENGLISH AND LATIN AT THE AGE OF 15. • WHEN HE WAS A STUDENT HE STARTED LEARNING SANSKRIT. • AFTER HIS DEATH HIS STUDENTS PUBLISHED THE BOOK “ COURS DE LINGUISTIQUE GENERALE” IN 1916 • IT WAS TRANSLATED IN ENGLISH IN 1959.

DIACHRONIC AND SYNCHRONIC • DIACHRONY AND SYNCHRONY ARE TWO DIFFERENT AND COMPLEMENTARY VIEWPOINT IN LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS. • A DIACHRONIC APPROACH CONSIDERS THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVOLUTION OF A LANGUAGE THROUGH HISTORY. • A SYNCHRONIC APPROACH CONSIDERS A LANGUAGE AT A MOMENT IN TIME WITHOUT TAKING ITS HISTORY INTO ACCOUNT. • SAUSSURE EMPHASIZED THE PRIMACY OF SYNCHRONIC ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE TO UNDERSTAND THEIR INNER FUNCTIONING, THOUGH NEVER FORGOTTEN THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPLEMENTARY DIACHRONY.

LANGUE AND PAROLE • WHAT IS LANGUE? • LANGUE IS LANGUAGE IN SYSTEM OR STRUCTURE. LANGUE ENCOMPASSES THE ABSTRACT, SYSTEMIC RULES AND COVENTIONS OF A SIGNIFYING SYSTEM. • WHAT IS PAROLE? • PAROLE IS LANGUAGE IN USE. PAROLE REFERS TO THE CONCRETE INSTANCES OF THE USE OF LANGUE. • LANGUE INVOLVES THE PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE, WITHOUT WHICH NO MEANINGFUL UTTERANCE, ‘PAROLE’, WOULD BE POSSIBLE. • PAROLE TYPICALLY WHEN IT IS TRANSLATED MEANS SPEECH. • FOR AN EXAMPLE IN THE GAME OF CHESS LANGUE IS LIKE THE RULES OF CHESS AND PAROLE IS LIKE A PARTICULAR GAME BEING PLAYED.

PARADIGMATIC AND SYNTAGMATIC • THESE TERMS ARE FIEST USED BY FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE. • EVERY ITEM OF LANGUAGE HAS A PARADIGMATIC RELATIONSHIP WITH EVERY OTHER ITEM WHICH CAN BE SUBSTITUTED FOR IT, ( SUCH CAT WITH DOG) AND A SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONSHIP WITH ITEMS WHICH OCCUR WITHIN THE SAME CONSTRUCTION. FOR EXAMPLE , THE CAT SAT ON THE MAT. HERE ‘THE CAT’ CAN BE SUBSTITUTED BY ‘THE DOG’. IT IS PARADIGMATIC RELATIONSHIP. AND HERE WE CANNOT SUBSTITUTE ‘SAT’ WITH ‘THE DOG’ BUT WE CAN SUBSTITUTE ‘SAT’ WITH THE WORD ‘STAND’ , THIS IS SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONSHIP.

SIGNIFIER AND SIGNIFIED • IN THE TRADITION OF SEMIOTICS DEVELOPED BY FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE, THE SIGN RELATION IS DYADIC , COSISTING ONLY OF A FORM OF THE SIGN ( THE SIGNIFIER ) AND ITS MEANING (THE SIGNIFIED). SAUSSURE SAW THIS RELATION AS BEING ESSENTIALLY ARBITRARY MOTIVATED ONLY BY SOCIAL CONVENTION. • WHEN WE SOUND THE WORD ‘ BALL’ – IT IS SIGNIFIER AND WHEN WE MAKE AN IMAGE OF A ROUND SHAPED THING IN OUR MIND – IT IS SIGNIFIED. • B-A-L-L = SIGNIFIER SIGNIFIED =

CRITICISM • MITCHELL MARCUS WROTE THAT STRUCTURAL LINGUISTICS WAS “FUNDAMENTALLY INADEQUATE TO PROCESS THE RANGE OF NATURAL LANGUAGE. ” SIMILAR VIEWS HAVE BEEN EXPRESSED BY JAN KOSTER, MARK TURNER. • OTHERS HOWEVER STRESS THE CONTINUING IMPORTANCE OF SAUSSURE’S THOUGHT AND STRUCTURALIST APPROACHES.

THANK YOU