LINGUISTICS

"Linguistics? So, What, You Speak a Lot of Languages?"

I get asked this question a lot. So what's the answer?

Well, yeah. Four, at last count, not including the computer languages I've learned. I'm currently working on Italian and Irish Gaelic. I've actually studied bits and pieces of at least 18, 19 if you count the informal study of Catalan I was working on in college, but I can't say I've learned enough of them to "speak" them, although I can find the bathroom and order dinner in quite a few. But learning new and different languages is not the point of linguistics. Linguistics is the study of how language goes together, and what makes language and what doesn't.

Small bits -- sounds -- go together to make units of meaning. Some of these units are words, some suffixes and prefixes (some languages even have infixes, that go in the middle of a word), and some are other things that don't really qualify as either, like -wise (as in timewise, we're running late). Some folks will say it's a suffix, but it really doesn't fit all the criteria.

These words and suffixes and prefixes have certain rules they follow to go together, and these rules are both rules of grammar -- that is, what kind of words go where -- and rules of meaning. The rules of meaning involve things like Steve Martin's famous line, "May I mambo dogface to the banana patch?" Each one of these fits recognizably into the sentence, but means nothing. At least not to me.

Then there are rules of how to use things. Why can't I interrupt people when they're talking? What do I have to do to make a sincere apology, and to me, this kind of stuff is extremely fascinating. The more I learn about language and how it works, the more I know about myself.

And the more I know about myself and others, the better writer I am.

It all fits together.

Never Say Ain't

I say "ain't" all the time. It's a perfectly good and descriptive piece of language that expresses something that few other words can. Prescriptive linguists, also known as language teachers, will tell you how language should go together and what's wrong and right. This has a time and place, and I'm a part of that world too, although most people who go by the label "linguist" are not. In fact, some will react rather badly if you imply that they are. I have spent time being an English teacher and a linguistics teacher. It's a fine line to walk.

Language Is What You Make It

Most linguists are descriptivists -- that is, they'll tell you that if you're understood, then you're speaking correctly. They have a whole 'nother motive than to "get the grammar right." In fact, a linguistic grammar is often radically different from a grammarian's grammar.

A grammar written by a linguist will tell you how the people a language or dialect actually use the language, not how they ought to use it. So if they say "ain't" or "He stupid" or "youse," then that's a perfectly good part of the language.

For example: we have a weakness in English. If I'm talking to one person, I'll say, "you." But if I'm talking to six people, what do I say? That's right. "You." Usually, it's not a problem. But suppose I'm trying to get someone's attention? "Hey, you!" Now your catching on to the glitch. In different parts of the country, we've solved this problem by "adding" different things to the language that may or may not be in the dictionary. Here are some examples:

You guys
Y'all
Youse
You'uns (you ones)
All y'all (because y'all in that part of the country has come to mean you singular).

And you know what? All of these are okay, because they are understandable. In many cases, they actually help communication, so to a linguist, they're an improvement.

It's a tough idea to get used to, ain't it?

Interested? I go on and on about it here.

Last monkeyed with on November 10, 2007
Copyright © 1998-2007 Mark W. Worthen, all rights reserved

Like I said, I've got one foot in the camp of telling you how you should speak. I can't help it. I was an english teacher for a long time. I still am, but I teach linguistics an an English department. Figure that one out!

GRAMMAR GURU

If you need someone to tell you how to speak, or more to the point, how to write "correctly," I wear my Grammar Guru hat here. It's the nickname I was given the last three places I"ve worked at.

LINGUIST

IF you want to read more about linguistics and learning without guilt how poeple really speak and communicate, I write about that here.