Aspects of Language (Set of 9 Books)

This course is about the origin, change and formation of the English language.

Speakers of a language have an illusion of changelessness of language, as they have of life. But language like life, like the human body, is changing all the time, though we may not be aware at all of the imperceptible changes that are taking place. It is important, however, to know of the changes because those changes, like sediments , constitute the substratum and, therefore a part of the total living reality of a language.

So we will study the story of English, its origin, growth and maturity.

These blocks will have four units:

1. An Introduction

2. Changes in Sounds and Spelling

3. Changes in Vocabulary

4. Changes in Grammar ,

Let me briefly tell you what will be discussed in each of these units.

In this, we will describe different approaches to the study of the history of a Language.

We will then briefly consider the sources for the study of language history and then look at the origins of English in terms of the language to which it belongs. We will then describe what according to scholars are the major phases in the growth of English. In each phase, we will look at the external events that have influenced the language and broadly refer to the changes that took place as a consequence of those influences.

In this unit, we will say that change is a fundamental property of language. It is noticed over a period of time; change over space is recognised as variation and it is possible that it is variation that leads to change. We will note that it is the language sound system that undergoes the maximum change which is another way of saying that change occurs basically, and first, in speech. We will note that, relatively fewer changes take place in grammar even over long stretches of time. The Grammatical system in other words, is the stable core of a language. English grammar has also changed, though in a limited way and we will sketch those changes.

In this unit, we will take up the changes that have taken place in the English vocabulary over the last 1500 years, that is, since this language first becomes recognisable as Anglo-Saxon. Over this period, the character of English word-stock changed from what may be called Germanic to partly Romance. Three kinds of things we have to consider - the increase of vocabulary through borrowing from different sources, formation and coinage of new words and compounds, and changes in the meanings of words.

A lot of technical words have been used in this block. We suggest that you re-read these units after going through the entire course. Also, please do not be intimidated by the technical vocabulary.

Please read this entire block like a story. This block will help you understand the making of the English language and to some extent English Literature.

Human beings are different from other animals in that they have developed a very complicated system to communicate with one another. The signals used for human communication are generally of two different types, aural and visual. Children first acquire the power of speech by responding to the sounds made by people around t'iem and imitating them out of their need for communication. Reading and writing are learnt much later.

Phonetics is concerned with the study of the aural medium, i.e., the production, transmission and reception of the sounds of human speech. Phonetic studies have gained importance because of a large number of people learning second languages and due to the introduction of mechanical, electronic devices and the burgeoning of Information Technology.

Phonology deals with the sound system of a language, i.e. the way sounds are patterned in a language.

You might have sometimes noticed that a word which you take for granted and assume you know its meaning, turns out on closer scrutiny, to be quite a complicated business. Our attempt in this block is to help you understand something about the English word. Morphology is merely a study of the internal structure of the word.

We will begin by discussing the basic concepts in English morphology (Unit 1). After that we shall take up some of the processes of word formation in English, i.e. Infectional morphology of English relating to different parts of speech - nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs (Unit 2). We will also deal with Derivational morphology, Conversion and Compounding (Unit 3). Finally in Unit 4, we will look at some of the minor processes which have enriched the English word store - these include coining and meaning change.

Before you study these units, we suggest that you look at EEG-02, Blocks 3 and 4. These units will give you an in introduction to English morphology and hence make your task easier.

It is advisable to take a break after each unit.

We have already looked at the structure of English in terms of its phonology and morphology. We now turn to another aspect of language, i.e. Syntax. Syntax as you know, is the study of sentences and their structures.

The study of syntax acquired a special significance from the mid-fifties with the advent of No am Chomsky. While the structural linguists merely described the surface structure of the language, the Generativists (following Chomsky) considered explanation as the primary goal, and attempted to relate this to the properties of the human mind.

In this block, we briefly describe the work of the structuralists/descriptivists but the paradigm we have followed is that of the generativist. The units are as follows:

In the previous blocks we have studied language divorced from use. But as you will agree language exists only because it is used in society, and therefore any study of language makes sense in the context of 'language in society'.

We begin with a brief introduction to that field in linguistics which looks at the close relationship between language and society-Sociolinguistics (Unit 1).

Concepts such as Speech Community are studied in a multilingual framework which will give us insights into the ways individuals locate and identify themselves in such apparently 'complex' societies (Unit 2).

We have, therefore, tried to make you understand the meaning and nature of bilingualism, its different dimensions and the power and prestige equations which arise because of it (Unit 3).

In Unit 4 we discuss the concept of a standard language, the processes involved in standardization, the need for it, and at the same time the consequences for non- standard forms.

These units will help you understand the dynamic nature of language in use,

This is the second block on Language in Use. In the previous block our aim was to introduce you to two important areas of Language in Use: 1) Sociolinguistics 2) Bilingualism. The latter is especially important as it gives us an insight into the sociolinguistic reality of India.

In this block we continue our attempt to describe the multilingual scenario in India by' a unit on code mixing in a multilingual set up. We also have a unit on language planning. This area is important for all societies, but more so for complex multilingual societies where, languages of majorities and minorities have to be given satisfactory interplay. Then we go on to another area of language use: Pragmatics. Here we have discussed one aspect, i.e. conversational analysis. Finally, we enter the sociology of education with two units on learner characteristics. We hope you enjoy reading the units.

In this block we describe the origin and development of the English language in terms of the historical and sociolinguistic factors which have contributed to i making and proliferation. This block is divided into four units:

Unit 1: Variation and Varieties of English

Change is often, if not always, brought about by variation. The most important thing about language is that people talk differently and this accounts for variation from person to person and from place to place. Consequently we have language varieties - geographic and social. We also have style-varieties. We will take a historical look at different kinds of variation and different varieties of English and describe their main features with examples.

This is one of the most important blocks of this course. In this block we give you tools to look at literature from the point of view of the medium in which it is written, i.e. linguistic tools. You will now be able to relate to the literary texts that you study with greater insight and perception.

You will also notice in this section that with the gradual maturation of the discipline of linguistics and literary criticism, the rivalry between the two disciplines have been eliminated and a mutually cooperative role in the field of literary evaluation and appreciation has been established.

Another important facet of this block is that we have devoted three units on giving you hands on experience with analysing fiction and poetry.

The units in this block are: