Nullius in verba (‘Take nobody’s word for it’) The Royal Society’s motto

Is language a natural phenomenon?

Can language be studied like other natural phenomena?

What do we know about the language we use?

Does our use of language reflect our knowledge of language?

What is the relation between our conscious and unconscious knowledge of language?

What do we use language for?

      Recording and communicating knowledge

      Thinking

            observing new phenomena

            expressing new concepts

            developing new abstractions

      Persuasion

            politics

            business

            dating

      Regulating society

            legal contracts

            laws

            income tax regulations

      Art

            literature

            music

            popular culture

Is there any human activity that language does not touch?

A History Lesson – File 11.6

There is a good debate going about the origin of the human language ability. Some investigators link the origin of language to the origin of the homo genus, especially H. heidelbergensis between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. Other researchers date the origin of language to the development of fully modern behavior in H. sapiens some 70,000 to 50,000 years ago. Regardless of which of these proposals is correct, we have reached a tipping point in the development of the human potential for language.

Linguists now warn that most of the world’s languages are endangered. Ken Hale (1998) states that:

During the coming century ... 3,000 of the existing 6,000 languages will perish and another 2,400 will come near to extinction.... Thus, 90 percent of the world’s languages are imperiled.

While such warnings have been made many times by Michael Krauss, Hale and others, linguists have yet to appreciate the significance of this state of affairs for linguistic research of all kinds. Their predictions suggest that we have already entered a period of mass extinction on a scale that is difficult to comprehend.

Assignment #1: Cruise the Web

Due: Jan. 24th

      For this assignment, find an internet site with information on some aspect of language that you finding especially interesting. Write a one-paragraph description of the site that describes:

1. The site—what is the address? What aspect of language does it cover?

2. Did you learn anything about language from this site? Why was it interesting?