A brief overview of a rich and complex discipline: language and literature for a beginning undergraduate student

1. Language and Literature

2. In the most basic sense:
 It is a system of arbitrary signals and symbols
that is utilised for the communication of
thoughts and feelings

3. Language processing refers to the way
human beings use words to communicate
ideas and feelings, and how such
communications are processed and
understood.
 Most recent theories consider that this
process is carried out entirely by and inside
the brain.


6. The human brain is composed of neurons
which are basically information processing
units
 We have about 10 mil neurons organised into
complex networks in our brain


7. Divided into two hemispheres by a
longitudinal fissure – referred to as the left
and right hemispheres
 The cerebral hemispheres can be considered
to be separate brains and so is also referred
to as the left and right brain
 They are connected by a bundle of nerve
fibres known as corpus callosum


8. The two hemispheres have totally distinct
functions
 the left brain controls the right side of the
body and vice versa.
 the left hemisphere is responsible for
analytical tasks such as arithmetic
 the right brain is responsible for complex
patterns such as recognition of familiar faces
or melodies of songs


9. Frontal lobe: planning, prediction, speech,
discrete movements of the body
 Temporal lobe: audition, memory processing,
sensory integration
 Parietal lobe: reading ability, sensation of
pain, temperature, touch, pressure and taste
 Occipital lobe: visual processing


10. Grammar is the mental system that allows
people to speak and understand a language
 It is a mental system that allows us to form
and interpret familiar and new utterances
 It governs the articulation, perception and
patterning of speech sounds, the formation
of words and sentences, and interpretation


11. All languages have grammars which are
equal in their capacity/function (no one
grammar is superior to another)
 All speakers of a language have
(subconscious) knowledge of their language’s
grammar


12. The first concept is that we possess some
type of “mental grammar” in our cognition
 This ”mental grammar” is a form of linguistic
knowledge that helps in the production and
recognition of grammatical expressions
 This grammar is subconscious and not learnt
in the classroom


13. A second concept of grammar is a that we
learn the ”proper” or ”best” structures of the
language in a formal manner
 This is sometimes referred to as a prescriptive
approach to grammar learning where
grammar rules are learnt in formal settings
such as in an ESL classroom


14. Another view of grammar is that grammar is
descriptive and not prescriptive.
 Hence, real authentic language is analysed to
establish a description of a language
 This is known as descriptive grammar


15. 
Since language acquisition involves the
emergence of a grammar, its study is closely
tied to a type of linguistic analysis based on
the following areas: phonetics (sounds),
morphology (words), syntax (sentences)
and semantics (meanings)

16. A study of the sounds of a language i.e. how
speech sounds are articulated
 Sounds are categorised according to the
place of articulation and manner of
articulation
 Examples of phonetic categories are bilabials,
labiodentals and alveolars.


17. The study and description of how words are
formed in language
 It establishes a system of categories and rules
involved in word formation and
interpretation
 Some examples of morphological processes
are: affixation, blending and coinage


18. In syntax, we are concerned with the study of
sentences/clauses and the rules that govern
sentence structure.
 A sentence is usually defined as a
grammatical unit that is composed of one or
more clauses that expresses a thought.


19. Syntax primarily deals with phrases, their
structure and how they are assembled
together.
 The basic building block phrases are noun
phrases and verb phrases. These may contain
adjectival and adverbial units and
prepositional phrases, as well as dependent,
subordinate phrases.


20. 

Semantics is the study of meaning.
An understanding of semantics is essential to
the study of language acquisition (how
language users acquire a sense of meaning,
as speakers and writers, listeners and
readers) and of language change (how
meanings alter over time).

21. Meanings are dependent on various factors
such as social contexts, the variety of English
used, style, etc.
 The study of semantics includes the study of
how meaning is constructed, interpreted,
clarified, etc.
 Studying semantics will include areas such as
synonyms, antonyms and figurative
language.


22. The study of language-processing
mechanisms
 Combines linguistics and psychology
 Studies the cognitive aspects of language
understanding and production
 Examples: language acquisition, linguistic
disabilities, artificial intelligence


23. Cannot be observed directly
So, special experimental techniques are used
For example, lexical decision (measures a
subject’s response time) and priming
(response accuracy) to linguistic stimuli
 http://www.language-experiments.org




24. Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the
effect of aspects of society such as cultural
norms, soci0-economic contexts.
 It is also concerned with the way language is
used and how language in use affects
society.
 It can be viewed as the study of social life
through linguistics (i.e. what kind of social
reality does the language-in-use convey?)


25. Literature refers to creative written material
such as poetry, drama, short stories and
novels
 They generally represent a specific culture
and tradition
 Genres of literature: poetry, short stories,
novels and plays


26. It is the study of style in language and
involves the analysis of the distinctive
expressions in language
 In a stylistic analysis of a text, the analyst
describes the purpose and effect of particular
linguistic devices
 In literary stylistics various devices such as
assonance, rhyme, irony can be studied.


27. 
Alliteration: The effect created when words
with the same initial letters (usually
consonants) are used in succession. For
example, the initial letter W in close
succession brings about this effect in the
following line taken from the poem titled The
Trap: The water fowl walks along the watery
way

28. Repetition of identical or similar vowel
sounds in the stressed syllables (and
sometimes in the following unstressed
syllables) of neighbouring words.
 Example: Or sinking as the light wind lives or
dies; displays this effect as a result of the
repeated use of the 'i' vowel sound


29. Repetition of identical or similar terminal
sound combination of words
 Rhyming words are generally placed at a
regular distance from each other
 In verse, they are usually placed at the end of
the corresponding lines


30. A stylistic device based on the simultaneous
realisation of two logical meanings dictionary and contextual
 The two meanings oppose each other
 One thing is said but the opposite is implied


31. 
These slides have been uploaded to give an
overall, albeit, a brief picture of language and
literature for beginners in the area of
language and literature.

32. Use of words that imitate the sound that the
poet is trying to describe.
 For example, the word crackle in the
following line from Thistles:
Thistles spike the summer air.
Or crackle open under the blue-black pressure.


33. The final outcome of the main complication
in a play or story
 Occurs after the climax
 In drama, it is sometimes used to explain all
that is connected to the plot


34. The way the events of a story are conveyed to
the reader
 The “vantage point” from which the narrative
is passed from author to the reader


35. A question where one does not expect an
answer
 Aims to make a statement rather than to get
a reply


36. The attitude that the author/writer wants us
to take towards the text
 The way we are supposed to feel about the
situation in a story or poem
 Can be established by analysing the language
and context
