Department of Linguistics
Language variation
Linguistics Tripos: Preliminary Paper 2 (Old Regulations)
MML Pt. IB and Pt. II: Paper Li.2 (Old Regulations)
This paper will be taught for the last time in 2009-10.
Reading List available on web
- Exam paper 2009 (PDF)
- Examination paper 2008 (PDF)
- Examination paper 2007 (PDF)
Examiners' reports can be found in the MML Library
The aim of this paper is to introduce the ways in which language can vary, including change over time and variation within linguistic communities, the effects of contact between speakers of different languages and dialects, the development of language as it is being acquired by children and learned by adults, the sporadic errors which can occur in normal language production, and the nature of speech and languages disorders. Understanding these phenomena of language variation requires familiarity with, in particular, aspects of historical linguistics, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics, and so this paper also serves as an introduction to those areas.
One of the greatest achievements of nineteenth-century linguistics was the discovery that very many of the languages of Europe and parts of Asia were descended historically from a single parent language. The lectures on historical linguistics examine the methods used to establish such relationships and to reconstruct features of parent languages, the assumptions about language change that underlie these methods, and the typical sorts of changes that languages experience.
The focus of much recent research has been the study of social variation in language, that is, differences between speakers of different ages, genders, social classes or identities. The methods for uncovering this variation are considered in the lectures on sociolinguistics, and also models of how such variation arises or is levelled out under different social conditions. Situations of extensive contact between speakers of different languages or dialects lead to other interesting linguistic effects: the levelling of dialects, the emergence of pidgins and creole languages, convergence between languages, and language death. An introduction to dialectology serves to demonstrate the sorts of geographical variation in language that are typically found, and also highlights some of the problems that such variation poses for models of language change.
Psycholinguistics addresses the mechanisms and processes by which we produce and understand language. The lectures cover aspects of adult language behaviour, children's acquisition of language and adult second-language learning, and acquired language disorders (aphasia). These are considered in relation to cognitive and psychological processes, and to the models which linguists use in the description of language.
Preliminary reading:
Radford, Andrew; Atkinson, Martin; Britain, David; Clahsen, Harald; and Spencer, Andrew (1999) Linguistics. Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, Lyle. (1998) Historical linguistics: An introduction. Edinburgh University Press.
Berko Gleason, J., & N. Bernstein Ratner. (1998) Psycholinguistics (2nd edn.) Harcourt Brace.
Mesthrie, R., J. Swann, A. Deumert & W. L. Leap (2000) Introducing sociolinguistics. Edinburgh University Press.
Pinker, S. (1994) The language instinct. Penguin.
For further information, contact: Dr David Willis (Email: dwew2@cam.ac.uk).
Go to other Linguistics papers:
Linguistic Theory (Linguistics Tripos only)
General Linguistics
Phonetics
Syntax
Semantics and Pragmatics
Phonology and Morphology
Historical Linguistics
The structure of English
Foundations of
Speech Communication
