What is a Language

Neil Smith and Deirdre Wilson of University College in London focused on one of the fundamental ideas of contemporary linguistics concerning language as a rule-governed system. To say that a language is rule-governed is like also saying that it can be described in terms of a grammar.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on What is a Language specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Therefore, the grammar of a language is a description of the rules of the language, rules of a kind that human beings are innately disposed to learn .These rules differentiate grammatical from ungrammatical sentences and provide explicit descriptions of grammatical sentences, including their meaning and pronunciation. Although everyone has his or her unique grammar, all grammars have some things in common because of genetic constraints on the kinds of grammars and hence languages that human beings can learn. Languages change in time when it comes to c omparing language with other evolutionary systems therefore, organic and inorganic might also be pursued. While all of these approaches have undoubted appeal, there is an obvious logical point to be made and that is one must be able to describe a language, at least in part, before going on to compare it with other systems. It is easy to see that speakers of a language often behave as if their language were rule-governed. Fluent speakers may however make mistakes in speaking, and when they do, they have no hesitation in correcting themselves. It is however also possible for a speaker to feel that others around him are making mistakes although his willingness to correct them will, in many cases, be tempered by considerations of politeness (Finegan 89). A speaker who is willing to correct himself and others gives evidence that there is, for him, a right and a wrong way of saying things. However, it does not necessarily follow that in making these corrections he is applying a set of lin guistic rules. He might, for example, be following a set of linguistic conventions, or habits, or customs, which he dislikes seeing disrupted. So far, this may have seemed to imply that a grammar simply provides a means of registering and correcting mistakes. But the copy-editing function is an important one; however grammars are also concerned with the description of sentences which contain no mistakes at all. However, one’s ability to understand a sentence does not depend on custom, convention or habit, all of which would imply that repeated encounters with a sentence would be necessary before its correct interpretation could be established.Advertising Looking for essay on linguistics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Neither the ability to note a sentence as grammatical, nor the ability to produce or understand it seems to depend on prior encounters in this way. Conventions are also social constructs that takes two pe ople to establish and operate a system of conventions. The rule-systems however, could easily be constructed and operated by a single individual. When it comes to children, learning their first language, seem to be constructing their own rules but they get them wrong because they produce utterances that are ungrammatical from the adult point of view. However, the number of verbs with an irregular past tense, and nouns with exceptional plurals, is rather small resulting in overgeneralization, invention of rules, on the basis of extremely limited data. Divergences between rule-systems are not just found in the cases of children who are still learning their language. Fluent adults may find idiosyncrasies in their own language of which the most common are pronunciation and vocabulary. It has therefore been proved that no two adults possess exactly the same set of vocabulary items, pronounced in exactly the same way. This is however even true when it comes to syntactic rules (Fromkin 142 ). A more extreme instance of adult idiosyncrasy in speech is noticed when it comes to people who have had a stroke, or have otherwise suffered damage to the brain resulting to speech loss or aphasia. The best definition of criterion of aphasia is that the rules normally characteristic of speech have broken down, leading the patient to produce utterances which depending on the severity of his case and the number and type of rules involved, may be inappropriate. We have however been assuming that speakers of a language actually know the grammars which they use in producing and understanding sentences, correcting mistakes and so on. However, this assumption that speakers know grammars usually expressed as a claim that grammars are psychologically real pervades the whole of modern linguistic theory. Conclusion Learning a language as we have seen is equated with learning a grammar when knowing a language is equated to knowing a grammar. Linguistic differences between speakers are analyz ed as differences in their grammars.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on What is a Language specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Works Cited Finegan Edward. Language: Its Structure and Use. New York, NY: Cengage Learning. 2011. Print Fromkin Victoria. An Introduction to Language. Boston, MA: Harcourt Publishers Group. 2011. Print This essay on What is a Language was written and submitted by user Alissa P. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. 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Mohandas Gandhi recognized as one of the greatest leaders and thinkers of the 20th Century essays

Mohandas Gandhi recognized as one of the greatest leaders and thinkers of the 20th Century essays Mohandas Gandhi, born to a merchant cast in India, defied his family and caste beliefs by studying law in England. This experience broadened his view of the British Empire. He found that he was often accepted there as an equal. After he finished his studies in England he returned to India, but was not terribly successful. Eventually he was hired by a company in 1893 to represent their interests in the British colony of Natal in Africa. He was the first "colored lawyer allowed to practice in Natal and did well. However, he discovered that Indians in Natal were harshly discriminated against. He believed that as a British subject he should be treated as the equal to the Englishmen in Natal and organized the Natal Indian Congress to work for Indian rights. However, he remained loyal to the British, intending to change their policies. He helped organize ambulance services during the Boer War and also helped against a Zulu In 1906, however, when no changes had occurred, he developed the philosophy of civil disobedience, based on writings of Thoreau, Tolstoy and Jesus Christ. He refused to comply with discriminatory laws, which put him Finally in 1914 the government made some concessions including the recognition of Indian marriages and dropping the poll tax for Indian In India he began working for "swaraj," or home rule for India. He worked hard to unite Hindus and Muslims, traditional opponents, to work for this goal. In 1920, arguing that dependence on English goods had undermined Indian self-sufficiency and economy, he urged all to spin their own yarn and weave their own cloth rather than buy British cloth. This led to his first imprisonment in India. In 1930, to protest a salt tax, he led a 200- mile march to the sea and taught the people to gather and refine the law. Once again he was imprisoned. Through this process he saw h ...

The Effects of Immigration on Wages and Employment Essay

The Effects of Immigration on Wages and Employment - Essay Example The essay "The Effects of Immigration on Wages and Employment" analyzes the effect of immigration on the wages and employment rates of a particular area in terms of the effects for each city outmigration and reduced in-migration. Suffice to say, the mobility of workers both domestically and internationally has become commonplace thus altering the composition of the workforce in various places. Legal migrants form a substantial portion of the workforce in the United States. It is important to evaluate the impact of both the international migrations to the US and the domestic migrations on the native workers. According to Card (2005), immigration does not have a notable impact on the wages of both the natives and the immigrant workers. Card indicates that large differences in the proportions of immigrants do not cause differences in the relative wages. In order to investigate the effect of immigration on wages and employment, Card compared cities with large versus small numbers of immigrants. He also factored in the effects for each city outmigration and reduced in-migration. Card found out that immigration had a negligible effect on skilled and unskilled wages. Peri (2010) took a task analytic approach to investigate the study in focus. According to Peri, workers are in different occupations. For instance, natives have a better command of English language and therefore more suited for communication-oriented tasks compared to immigrants who specialize in jobs that are manual oriented. Peri also indicates that native born workers take on managerial tasks while educated immigrants are likely to work in specialized roles as engineers, doctors or scientists. Ultimately, a large a number of immigrant workers could lead to increased productivity of the natives and thus increase their wages and employment rate rather than decreasing them. Card, Borjas and Peri used fundamentally different methods to study the effects of immigration on wages and employment. Borjas’ findings were based on an intrinsic grouping of people based on social factors and comparing their wages and employment rate vis a vis proportion of immigration in their cities. It is imperative to not that Card used the same groupings and made findings to the effect that immigration had negligible effects on wages and employment. The difference in findings between Borjas and Card can be attributed to the fact the Borjas failed to consider the effect of capital investments changes to the production function. Peri a task oriented approach to evaluate the differences in terms of jobs that natives and immigrants undertook. It is notable that the findings of Card, Peri and Borjas are based on the methods that they used to conduct their studies. It is not possible to arrive at a generalized conclusion on the effects of immigrants on the wages and employment rates. However, both Peri and Card tentatively agree that the immigrants do not necessarily cause a negative impact on employment rates and wages. 2. Worker mobility is an important factor in market economies since it allows for free movement of workers to obtain employment of their choice. The