30.3326, Review: General Linguistics: Genetti (2018)
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Subject: 30.3326, Review: General Linguistics: Genetti (2018)
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Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2019 21:45:18
From: Georgios Georgiou [georgiou.georgos at hotmail.com]
Subject: How Languages Work
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-64.html
AUTHOR: Carol Genetti
TITLE: How Languages Work
SUBTITLE: An Introduction to Language and Linguistics
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2018
REVIEWER: Georgios P. Georgiou, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia
SUMMARY
The aim of the book is to introduce the main issues in language studies and
linguistics to readers. The book is divided into two parts. The first part
begins with a definition of language and its relation with humans, explaining
as well the purpose of the science of linguistics, the scientific study of
language. Furthermore, it refers to the different levels of linguistic
analysis (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics)
following a traditional format since it begins with the smallest unit
(phoneme) and ends with larger components (e.g., sentences). Also, the book
discusses significant linguistic issues such as language change and language
variation, the role of language in society and culture, and first and second
language acquisition. The second part includes sets of language profiles. In
these profiles, the structure of each language under investigation is
described and then is examined within the scope of one or more topics that tie
in with the chapters of the first part of the book.
Part 1 includes 15 primary chapters which are introductory to language and
linguistics.
Chapter 1 “Introduction. Language, Languages and linguistics” discusses the
importance of language to the everyday life of humans, noting that it
constitutes a dynamic system with a particular structure that is able to
change and adapt to the needs of the society. Also, the chapter talks about
language demographics; the languages of today and the languages of the future
as well as endangered languages. Furthermore, it explains the purpose of the
science of linguistics and the role of linguists. Finally, it refers briefly
to the most important fields of linguistics such as phonetics, phonology,
historical linguistics, etc.
Chapter 2 “Phonetics. Physical Dimensions of Speech Sounds” is dedicated to
the subfield of phonetics. First, it provides a definition of phonetics and
describes the function of the speech organs. It also discusses how consonants
are differentiated according to the manner and place of articulation and that
vowels can be described according to their frontness, backness, tenseness and
lip rounding. The chapter introduces the International Phonetic Alphabet to
the readers and how it is possible to transcribe English words into this
alphabet. Moreover, it discusses matters of co-articulation and phonetic
typology, and at the end it refers to the suprasegmental features of sounds,
such as stress, tone, and syllables.
In Chapter 3 “Phonology. Organization of Speech Sounds”, the author provides a
brief definition of phonology and talks about the natural classes of speech
sounds. Afterwards, it is explained the role of phonemes and minimal pairs as
well as the role of allophones and their complementary distribution in
language. The chapter also provides examples of phonological rules and
discusses ways of writing these rules. In another section, it reports the
phenomenon of free variation in phonology, and the phenomenon of allomorphy.
Chapter 4 “Morphology. What’s in a Word?” gives a definition of Morphology and
Morpheme, referring as well to the different kinds of morphemes. The
definition of the word is also given in this chapter. Moreover, it is provided
an introduction to morphological analysis with emphasis on how to find a
morpheme in a word. In addition, it is discussed that morphemes may have
different meaning in each language, and that a morpheme may have more than one
pronunciation. The chapter also talks about lexemes and the lexicalization
process. Finally, it reports that languages are often classified according to
their structural characteristics, which is studied under the rubric of
linguistic typology.
Chapter 5 “Word Classes. Evidence from grammatical behavior” emphasizes the
classification of words into categories (word classes) according not only to
their syntactic positioning but also to their morphological behavior; it is
made known that word classes differ from language to language. The chapter
analyses the function and the characteristics of nouns, verbs, adjectives,
adverbs, prepositions and postpositions, quantifiers and numerals,
demonstratives, articles, conjunctions, pronouns and other word classes.
Chapter 6 “Syntax. Words in Combination” focuses on the role of syntax in
language. First, it gives a definition of syntax and constituent structure:
words can be included in phrases, clauses and sentences. Also, it discusses
the role of the three phrasal constituents: the noun phrase, the prepositional
phrase, and the verb phrase. The chapter talks about the clause and the
relation of verbs with subjects and objects. Contractions constitute as well a
matter of discussion; and finally the chapter analyses the Sentence and its
types.
Chapter 7 “Semantics. How Language Makes Sense” focuses on the subfield of
Semantics. It intends to distinguish the semantic meaning of expressions from
the pragmatic meaning and to describe the different kinds of linguistic sign:
the icon, index, and symbol. Also, it seeks to identify entailments and
presuppositions that are associated with lexemes. Furthermore, the chapter
deals with lexical semantic relations such as synonymy, hyponymy, hypernymy,
and antonymy. In the chapter, polysemy and vagueness are distinguished. Also
discussed are matters of identification of metaphoric and metonymic
relations between the lexeme senses.
Chapter 8 “Pragmatics. Inference for Language” discusses basic concepts in
Pragmatics such as context, contextual assumptions, and pragmatic inferences
of various kinds. First, it defines Pragmatics, providing examples and then it
talks about different pragmatic theories; two leading pragmatic theories,
Grice’s theory and the Sperber theory, are compared and contrasted. Also, in
the chapter, the difference between Semantics and Pragmatics is discussed.
Chapter 9 “Discourse. Language beyond the Sentence” defines the term
“Discourse” and enumerates discourse genres. Afterwards, it provides examples
of how to transcribe conventional speech. Furthermore, the chapter talks about
narratives and their structure, and the prosodic realization of sentences.
Also, it determines whether the activation of an idea is given, new or
accessible, and it mentions why the study of discourse contributes to the
better understanding of language and linguistic structure.
Chapter 10 “Prosody. The Music of Language” focuses on a further investigation
of the prosodic features of language. It begins with a list of speech
properties that are indicated by the term Prosody, indicating that there are
four ways to display the sound properties visually. The chapter mentions the
four functions of prosody as well as special voice qualities such as laughter
and whispering. Also, it mentions that prosody can be a significant feature
for speech styles. In general, the chapter aims to make readers identify the
prosodic features of speech, and judge the effects of prosody in different
circumstances such as commercials, speeches, and other public uses of
language.
Chapter 11 “Language in the Social World” investigates language as a social
activity. It discusses how identity is created through language and describes
the principles and practices of language variation and diversity. Also, it
explains how language variation and language change are linked, it
characterizes communities of practice, and it identifies the challenges in the
study of gender differences in language use. Finally, the chapter describes
how linguistic activism can promote sociolinguistic justice.
Chapter 12 “Language Change. The Dynamicity of Linguistic Systems” focuses on
how language evolves over time and how sound inventories and grammars change
over time. In particular, it explains the language change process and it gives
examples of sound changes and of the grammaticalization process. Furthermore,
it studies language relationships in an attempt to classify languages into
language families. Also, the steps of the Comparative Method, which lead to
the reconstruction of a protolanguage are discussed in this chapter.
Chapter 13 “Language Contact and Aerial linguistics” emphasizes the language
change that takes place when languages come in contact. It talks about
linguistic borrowing and how words change through borrowing, and it provides
arguments on how languages change after contact. Moreover, it gives examples
with respect to bilingual and multilingual societies and it compares and
contrasts creoles and pidgins. At the end, the chapter defines the term of
“linguistic area” and it discusses sociocultural prerequisites for the
formation of linguistic areas.
Chapter 14 “First Language Acquisition” deals with the mastering of a first
language by children. First, it explains the term “First Language Acquisition”
and then it describes that process in terms of biological, cognitive, and
social foundations. Afterwards, the chapter talks about the pros and cons of
different methodologies of language acquisition research. In addition, it
explains how phonological, lexical, and grammatical development takes place in
children. Finally, the chapter presents particular theories of Language
Acquisition, such as that of Universal Grammar.
Chapter 15 “Second Language Acquisition” focuses on the acquisition of a
second language by adolescents or adults. It explains why second language
pronunciation is difficult to acquire and it points out that development of
vocabulary requires awareness of grammatical forms in language use beyond the
knowledge of word meaning. Also, the chapter provides examples in which an
utterance in the speakers’ first language might be inappropriate if used in a
second language due to sociolinguistic, pragmatic or cultural differences.
Part 2 includes 14 Language Profiles. These languages represent languages from
diverse locations, families, and types.
Language Profile 1 examines the phonetics and phonology of Kabardian, a
northern Caucasian language which is spoken in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic
in the region of southern Russia and in Turkey.
Language Profile 2 investigates the Goemai language, a West Chadic language
spoken in Nigeria. In this profile, the existence of implosive stops in this
language is discussed, and its grammatical features are further analyzed.
Language Profile 3 studies phonological and grammatical aspects of the Manange
language, a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Nepal.
Language Profile 4 examines the phonological, morphological, and syntactical
system of Finnish.
Language Profile 5 examines the Nuuchahnulth language that is spoken in the
west coast of Vancouver island in Canada. The study describes the community of
speakers, the sound system, the word formation, the word classes, and the
formation of negation and questions of this language.
Language Profile 6 investigates the South Conchusos Quechua language which is
spoken in the Andes in Peru. The author describes its speech community and
culture, its sound system, the word formation, the word classes, the verb
formation, and other grammatical aspects of the language.
Language Profile 7 describe the Tsez (or Dido) language, which is spoken in
the North Caucasus in the Republic of Daghestan. The study discusses the
phonology, and the clause structure of Tsez.
Language Profile 8 focuses on the Bardi language, which constitutes one of the
indigenous languages of Australia. The study begins with a basic typological
overview of the language giving emphasis to its phonetics and phonology, to
case-marking, to constituent order, and to word classes.
Language Profile 9 investigates the Lowland Chontal language that is spoken in
southern Mexico. Through the study, the morphological, syntactical, and
phonological system of the language is analyzed.
Language Profile 10 examines the language Manambu that is spoken in New
Guinea. Aspects of the language’s phonology, morphology, and grammatical
relations are discussed in this study.
Language Profile 11 deals with African-American English. The structure of this
language is analyzed with particular emphasis on its phonetics and phonology,
morphology, syntax, and lexicon. Also, educational implications are drawn for
speakers of African-American English.
Language Profile 12 studies the Indonesian language. The speech community is
described along with structures of the language with respect to phonology,
morphology, and syntax.
Language Profile 13 investigates the Seneca language, a language that is
spoken by fewer than 50 people in western New York.
Language Profile 14 examines the Akkadian language, which in spite of being
considered a dead language, is similar to the living Semitic languages; this
language was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia.
EVALUATION
The book’s purpose is to make students realize the forces that shape language
and understand more deeply the linguistic principles and structures.
Furthermore, it seeks to make students acquire analytical skills and become
familiar with linguistic diversity. The book seems to cover its goals since
each chapter of the first part explains explicitly the linguistic principles
and structures and encourages students to apply methods in order to better
perceive a linguistic phenomenon. Also, by reading the second part of the
book, students will be able to observe different grammatical structures in
different languages of the world and understand the linguistic diversity.
The book is aimed at students of linguistics or anyone who is interested in
linguistics but does not have enough background in the science. This is
because the language used is simple and, in general, the book provides only
basic knowledge of linguistic issues (however, this knowledge is analytical).
The primary chapters of the book seem to cohere. The book follows a
traditional format beginning with the smallest parts of speech, the phonemes,
and ending up with larger components such as sentence and discourse. In other
chapters, important issues in linguistics are discussed, such as the
relationship of language with society, language change, and first and second
language acquisition. These topics are important to readers attempting to
understand the nature of the language system and how languages work.
The main advantage of this book is that it uses key terms, list of aims,
keypoints (in bold and italics), sidebars, textboxes for further reading,
chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading and glossary. The “Stop and
Reflect” box aims to ensure that students understood a topic by encouraging
them to apply specific methods. In addition, after the end of each chapter
there are exercises. However, it would be better if there were also the
answers to the exercises.
Some issues to be considered.
In Chapter 2, it would be better if there were sections for “Consonant
Acoustics” and “Vowel Acoustics”. In the former section, it should be reported
that place and manner of articulation, and voicing are used to discern
different consonants, and for the latter it should be noted that vowel height,
position, lip roundness, and duration are often used to discern different
vowels. All of the above are referred to in the chapter; however, they are not
presented consistently. Also, the whole Chapter 2 emphasizes English
phonetics. It would be a nice idea to include examples from several languages
as occurs in other chapters of the book. Moreover, in p. 35, it should be
added that most of the IPA symbols derive from the Latin, and the Greek
alphabet and that there are several other diacritics apart from the letters.
Chapter 2 talks about the production of speech by the speech organs
(articulatory phonetics). The chapter would benefit from the inclusion of a
section about Speech Perception (auditory phonetics). For more discussion on
Speech Perception, see Georgiou (2018) and Georgiou (2019a).
Chapter 15, p. 369 discusses the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH). However,
there is no reference for second language speech models and their stance
against CPH. For example, SLM and PAM (Flege, 1995; Best, 1995) argue that
children learn the pronunciation of a second language with less difficulty
than adults; however, this difficulty of adults does not emerge from a
biological obstacle but from the development of the first language phonetic
units. Furthermore, phonetic training contributes to a much better attunement
to the phonetic features of a second language (see Georgiou, 2019b).
REFERENCES
Best, C. T. (1995). A direct realist view of cross-language speech perception:
New Directions in Research and Theory. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception
and linguistic experience: Theoretical and methodological issues (pp.
171-204). Baltimore: York Press.
Georgiou, G. P. (2018). Discrimination of L2 Greek vowel contrasts: Evidence
from learners with Arabic L1 background. Speech Communication, 102, 68-77.
doi: 10.1016/j.specom.2018.07.003
Georgiou, G. P. (2019a). ‘Bit’ and ‘beat’ are heard as the same: Mapping the
vowel perceptual patterns of Greek-English bilingual children. Language
Sciences, 72, 1-12. doi: 10.1016/j.langsci.2018.12.001
Georgiou, G. P. (2019b). Implementation of High Variability Phonetic Training
for the discrimination of Greek vowel pairs by Arabic speakers. 40th Annual
Meeting of the Department of linguistics, Αpril 5-6, 2019. Thessaloniki:
School of Philology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Flege, J. E., (1995). Second language speech learning: Theory, findings and
problems. In Strange, W. (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience:
Theoretical and methodological issues (pp. 233-277). Baltimore: York Press.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Georgios P. Georgiou is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of General
and Russian Linguistics of RUDN University, Moscow. His research interests
include phonetics, phonology, psycholinguistics, and second language
acquisition. He is the Head of RUDN University phonetic lab and his current
work emphasizes on perception and production of non-native segments by second
language learners/listeners.
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