Good morning welcome to this course in introduction
to linguistics today we will be talking about
the objectives of the course.
Why we should do a course in linguistics?
how it helps us are there any practical advantages
and that sort of fails I hope you will enjoy
the course please relax and listen and ask
me if you feel like if you have any doubt
ask me to help or answer you will get along
right why a course in linguistics how does
it help you particularly those that are students
of technology.
That are the students of Sciences or anyone
else for that matter well there are you know
two kinds of answers one classical answer
is why not any body of knowledge any organized
body of knowledge is helpful and knowledge
has no boundaries we do not know where one
ends and the other begins can you tell me
where physics ends and chemistry begins can
you tell me where history ends and literature
begins can you tell me where economics ends
in politics begins these are man-made boundaries
knowledge.
In any form is useful is enlightening is you
know enhancing it enriches you it enriches
you more than wealth or physical power enriches
you okay you can do without wealth you can
do without physical strength you cannot do
without knowledge human beings have been gifted
this unique opportunity to cultivate and acquire
knowledge you can put knowledge to any use
from very mundane to very highly philosophical
okay it is entirely up to you but you know
acquiring knowledge is a pleasure in itself
it is like going to a concert listening to
some good songs people will ask you what is
the benefit?.
Well what is the benefit of listening to a
good song good music it is a pleasure in itself
of course it can have some practical uses
for linguistics also you can have some practical
uses I was telling you yesterday that you
could do engineering with it imagine you make
a machine which understands natural languages
like you and I do which answers and speaks
reads and writes recognizes voice and handwriting
like you and how can I do imagine the kind
of revolution you will bring in the world
after all technology is all about.
Challenging the impossible you know in the
realm of technology there is nothing like
impossible who could have imagined in 19108
and 19109 or 19113 that 100s of people will
be sitting in the comfort of their drawing
room and flying across the world in no time
at affordable cost maybe your grandchildren
will go for summer vacation on the moon or
the Mars or anywhere you know when I was your
age when I was 20 or 21 it was unimaginable
believe me at least in India that.
We could have a something called laptop put
6000 books here or 12000 books here and carry
anywhere you like our Internet or email or
a whole lot of other things or watching cricket
you know there was the only way radio gave
running commentary on cricket matches and
we sat next to the radio sets listening to
some commentator telling us that polygon rigor
is now taking a catch or Farouk engineer is
now taking a catch but today you can watch
it live any part of the world any word you
know that is engineering but for that kind
of engineering to happen you have to look
a whole lot of theory a whole lot of theoretical
stuff similarly.
If you want to do something in language okay
make a machine that recognizes the number
of words make a machine that recognizes words
anything you know anything you will need to
know about natural languages so I would not
I will not like to talk about applications
of this knowledge because applications are
in finite unlimited it is the only restriction
there is your imagination and your intelligence
you can put knowledge to any use you can write
better letters if you know about language
you can write better letters to your friends
to your mother to your father the same two
lines will please your father or mother or
friend immensely they may like to keep those
two lines forever you know the applications.
The use of knowledge is unlimited that is
why you may remember our scriptures say let
knowledge come to us from all sides have you
heard of this Slocan in Sanskrit what is it
in Sanskrit in Sanskrit it goes like the following
on overdraw karat young to petite let knowledge
come to us from all sides so this is another
body of knowledge on this course we will be
talking about two things number one is natural
language unique different from lots of other
languages you know we hear of languages every
day the language of machine the language of
a spy's the language of codes the language
of birds the language of animals the language
of a variety of kinds and there is the language
that you and I use and then you know.
The second objective of the course is to talk
about this structure of language is it a structure
does it have a rule is there some way we can
take it apart and put them together like a
motor car like a bicycle like a rocket that
goes into outer space can we take it apart
put the components one side and then put them
back together that is the objective of this
course let us look at them okay natural language
actually is unparalleled medium of communication.
Nothing absolutely nothing as we know nature
today or if you believe in God as we believe
in Gods world today mankind is unique, mankind
is different, mankind of womankind, him Humanity
is different from animal world primarily because
of the ability it has in language whatever
we do together war or friendship building
a hut or building a mansion or building a
bridge or building anything you know we do
through language the cooperation the collaboration
the groups the family the society the community
the country whatever we do happens through
language and there is no other medium of communication.
Which can come even close to the versatility
the flexibility of language you can use language
any way you can use language even when you
are asleep right some people talk while sleeping
have you heard of them yes or no yes or no
please yeah do you know anyone who talks in
sleep and even they talk grammatically correctly
but have you heard of anyone who paints while
sleeping who does a sculpture while sleeping
who does computer while sleeping have you
yes or no please no we have not obviously
you know because it is not so you and so language
is unique it is a unique medium of communication.
You can talk in the dark you can talk underwater
you can talk in the outer space you can be
climbing on the branch of a tree and you can
talk you can be swimming in a lake and you
can talk but can you paint while swimming
in a lake can you do concerts while climbing
a branch of the climb of the branch of a tree
can you do a sculpture any other medium of
communication any other man-made medium of
communication is nowhere close to language
you can communicate even when you lose voice.
There are people who because of some defect
or because we do not understand the reasons
adequately are unable to speak ok even they
communicate through gestures and they have
fully-fledged you know the sign language as
we call it okay.
Sign language is another expression of natural
language it is only that those people cannot
hear and cannot speak but they understand
and express themselves in natural language
it is unique there is nothing that can parallel
the versatility and flexibility of natural
language.
We will talk more about this you know maybe
tomorrow how do we define language can you
try can you give me a definition anybody please
can you try you may not be right it does not
matter classroom.
Is about the only place where you can make
a mistake and yet you can grow I do not mean
examination all I mean the classroom try can
you define language come on do try what is
language at least somebody please for the
sake of the prestige of our Institute you
know so that when it goes to the you two nobody
sees or knows to Lingo so after all these
are I ITV takes oh come on please somebody
okay try I think that you feel like answering
this question okay would you try what is language
more common rules which everyone except for
a time period.
That is as I am so the rules are integral
to it you know it is rule bond many people
call it verbal behavior it is a form of behavior
but verbal you know by which is meant you
know words language not written no writing
is not common to all of us what is speaking
is so it is a form of verbal behavior some
kind well is it we will see is it rule governed
perhaps yes much of you know a good deal of
language though not entirely is rule governed
you know for example take a language like
Hindi lots of words have either to be masculine
or feminine chair is feminine curtsy a chi
hair table is masculine made achihay but there
are sometimes exceptions.
Okay so you know much language or a good part
of language is rule-bound okay it is a form
of behavior so in that sense it is it social
behavior do you use language only when you
are with friends yes or no maybe quite often
you know when we are with friends can you
imagine two friends going silently together
I have seen man and wife going silently together
you know even without a quarrel but two friends
going silently sometimes yes is language only
a form of social behavior yes or no sometimes.
We also talk to ourselves we write we speak
to ourselves we write poetry we write stories
you know we constitute compose our thoughts
okay so language is social and language is
more than social it is all of us it is all
around us it is inside us Outsiders we are
surrounded by language enveloped covered by
language okay how does it compare with music
a painting or a sculpture you know arts or
computer language you know computer language
is complicated you have to learn it in a particular
manner you have to know a lot of things.
Before you can learn computer language is
that correct yes or no please okay, but in
natural language there is no precondition
you have to know nothing before you know Telugu
or Hindi or English or Swahili okay as you
are born you are not say okay, obtain a certificate
in mathematics before you can learn Telugu
nothing no preconditions it is the nature
it is like oxygen around us all you have to
do is be there okay so there is no precondition
or man-made languages such as a spy language
a group language but natural languages are
different okay they are all around us it is
difficult to define it is extremely difficult
to define natural language.
Why because definitions create boundaries
definitions create limits limitations natural
language has no limits no limitations okay
how do we understand it in this we do try
we will try you know like we are try and understand
the universe we do not know where the universe
ends we have not yet created a map of the
cosmos but we understand some physics we understand
some astrophysics and we make sense of that
so similarly you know we do not know how much
is covered by language but from the little
that we know we will try and see.
What language is but it is difficult you know
I have given you a list of books you will
not find a definition of language in any book
okay in the end our old sages also did not
define language they said it was God’s gift
it was goddess Saraswathies gift one of the
many names of Saraswathi is can anyone please
tell me walk Devi walk is speech Devi is Goddess
Saraswathi is the goddess of his speech she
has given us by which our sages said we do
not know our knowledge ends here it is natures
gift God’s gift or in India.
It is goddesses gift to us okay essentially
that is what we are saying how can we study
it well we know two things as in nature you
know nothing in nature is such that is not
rule-bound so here also language is also rule-bound
okay anything that has a structure anything
that has a system has two properties please
right one is it has units what is a bicycle
it has units the larger unit is it has two
wheels it has a saddle it has a frame then
you know wheels themselves have units what
are the units of wheels somebody please okay
can you please capture them can you please
answer one by one.
Spokes you can talk to the camera okay please
then next what are the units of a bicycle
wheel tires tubes themselves are a composition
what are the units of tubes you have a valve
you have a mouth the mouth has a hole okay
come on give me what are the constituents
of a bicycle wheel lots of things pokes a
spokes are attached to a rim okay a circular
rim and you know under the circular rim or
over the circular rim there are other things
so there are groups of units from very tiny
to very large in the end as physicists prove
it so easily we are all nothing but a structured
collection of molecules atoms or nano particles.
So in language there are units and there are
rules that put those units together just as
in the bicycle there is a rim there is a tyre
and there is a true but there is a rule the
rule says what comes first what comes next
can you imagine putting the tyre first and
tube next maybe your generation will build
a bicycle is it impossible is it impossible
we do not know you know engineering says nothing
is impossible okay but as of today there is
a rule you first have rim then you have come
on please in the bicycle wheel.
What do you have after the rim - then tyre
so there is a rule you know in that order
similarly in language similarly in any structured
space in any structured space you have units
and you have rules that combined those units
you will not have that body you will not have
the structure you will not have organization
if there are low units new rules this is true
of social structures as well see we are a
community here IIT Madras Indian Institute
of Technology Madras community we have units
what are our units we have students we have
come on please speak up you know we have faculty.
We have teachers then we have administrators
and we are all put together you know we will
not be able to work if there are no students
we will not be able to work if there are no
teachers we will not be able to work if there
are no administrators and there are rules
which put us together which define our roles
which define our responsibilities similarly
in nature you know similarly in language there
are units and rules units maybe A,D or C look
at the screen okay the PPT screen.
Rules may be A, B or C but they are sort of
units maybe A, B or C but there are rules
combining them a only if followed by B or
B only followed by C see only preceded by
a there are rules like that say for example
look at Hindi, or look at French, look at
Hindi , you know if the subject is masculine
then the verb has to be masculine if the subject
is feminine then the verb is famous in Hindi
you cannot say Larky Jot ahead and we have
similar things in other languages okay singular
plural okay if the noun is singular the verb
is similar if the noun is plural the verb
is plural you know in English if you talk
about.
Only one person boy then you have to say goes
if you talk about two people boys then you
can say go you know so there are units there
are rules say for example in English you can
say a book a pen or a pencil but can you say
an book yes or no can you say that you cannot
say an book why not what is the rule can you
speak slowly and please kindly take my friend
I will smile and tell the camera please so
before vowel sounds we have an give me an
example an expression and umbrella and egg
yeah and honor okay lovely really okay so
you know there are these rules what are the
units and in honor a hand book.
We put them together through rules so this
language like anything else in nature is nothing
but a structure of units following rules look
at another example you know as I said any
followed by a noun beginning with a vowel
just an apple and an orange but you are a
Gowah or Mango etcetera I said structures
can be large like I said bicycle first you
have wheels then you have frame now wheels
themselves have inner structure they themselves
have units so in language also you can go
from very large to very small okay from tiny
to the great okay our sages said that how
big there is no limit they said Maha Tome
hem it can be bigger than the big okay and
how is small it can be smaller than the small
unknown I am okay it can be smaller than One
it can be smaller than Adam okay but they
are all bound together by rules even in language
you can go with you know the highest structure
we recognize in languages discourse or paragraph.
Okay several sentences together the unit is
smaller than that is sentence paragraphs are
made up of sentences a discourse is made up
of sentences themselves are made up of phrases
we will talk about all of them phrases themselves
are made up of words okay words are made up
of syllables are made up of sounds so you
know there is and sound itself is not one
sound whatever you think is one sound whether
a or curve a car or gay whatever is not one
sound it is a bundle of several features on
this course.
We will talk about the science of phonetics
the production of his speech sounds and you
will see that what we think one sound is actually
not one sound is actually a bundle of 15 or
16 features at least put together you can
think of,
You know these are visual imagination it is
not that one is at the top the other is at
the bottom we do not know about the geometry
of language we do not know about the trigonometry
of language we do not know how it is organized
we do not know whether we learn sentence before
we learn word we do not know whether we learn
word before we learn sentence it all comes
together it is a package you know you take
one you take all you take all you take one
okay the only thing we know is that we can
break the structure of language.
We can analyze it by thinking of these levels
at one end is can you tell me what is at one
end pragmatics the rules of social behavior
okay language reflects culture if in that
society gender is important then you know
your language reflects gender if singular
plural is important then it reflects singular
plural in India in many languages verb is
one kind for plural another kind for singular
for many people says neingal ukkarungal okay
in Telugu which a ucchae kuichandi Hindi we
say bitiah sorry locally Akola byte kucha
ukkaru okay it is important but if it is a
king even if the king is only one person.
Or if it is Rahual Gandhi we cannot set out
in the battle way Cossack thank you he is
our future prime minister general secretary
of a very important political party we cannot
say that you know we say biteah ahiyah ukkarunga
kuchandi okay so you know these are social
rules so that is at one end now it does not
mean it is hi you cannot say lot of people
imagine it vertically highest rule lowest
rule do you see the point are you with me
everybody please are you with me right there
is nothing like high or low we cannot see
social rules are the highest we only can say
that at one end we have social rules at the
other we have language rules linguistic rules
if you break them apart one by one then you
find in the end you are looking at components
of sounds.
Please right we you are looking at 
then you will find you are looking at components
of sounds.
Not even one sound okay sounds themselves
are constituted of things in between we have
semiotics looking at the sign language there
is also a grammar of sign language okay looking
at a structure of sentences syntax a structure
of words morphology a structure of syllables
sounds coming together phonology and individual
sounds phonetics okay.
Just as here you know when phonic unit one
sound unit Phyllis another sound unit makes
a sound we study it under phonetics and phonology
sound plus sound makes a syllable we will
talk about syllable okay that we study under
phonology syllable plus syllable make a word
we talked about that under morphology similarly
you know we look at phrase plus play how a
phrase is built and how it behaves how it
goes with another phrase we studied that under
syntax and there we study sentences sentence
plus sentence.
We look at the discourse so you can go from
one end to the other or from the other end
to one but no matter what you do language
like anything else in nature is nothing but
a combination of units please write.
Following rules combination of units combination
of units bound by rules okay so we have units
and we have rules you looked at the unit you
can have sound the unit you can avoid unit
you can a phrase unit you can have sentence
unit you can have other kinds of unit’s
okay how do they work.
Let us look at sound okay I will just give
you one example what we know as ahhh please
produce that song ahhhh produce it okay keep
your mouth open like that okay camera please
kindly capture all the interesting mouths
in this country okay now what happens is before
you to produce this sound several features
come together first you vibrate your vocal
cords say it once again 
everybody planes to it so there is if heee
does not vibrate you will have no are let
us see for example watch me no vibration low
sound do it just let us say no do not libratory.
That is a do you feel any vibration you do
not so that is featured move on next you have
pressure on the root of your tongue when you
say ah say it now say e again say ah when
you say oh where is the pressure on the tip
of the toe or the root of the tongue root
of the tongue okay so that is another feature
all of these are very interesting and significant
features without them you cannot produce a
particular sound not only that when you say
are your lips are spread you say ah do you
see or do you say that try round your lips
and say ah can you do that round your lips.
And say II try and say you cannot do that
spread your lips and say ooh spread your lips
and now say can you cannot this is how nature
works with simple things and this is the challenge
for engineering can engineering replicate
nature can you do better than nature imagine
if cars had legs like human beings rather
than you know wheels we will not read roads
imaginary planes could take vertically suddenly
you not flying will become cheaper than traveling
by bullock cart two-thirds of the cost go
towards maintaining airports if Bullock if
flights could take off vertically every rooftop
will have an airport okay and you could imagine
how cheap it will become ok thank God it is
not so cheap.
Okay so you know everything even an ordinary
sound like ah has I have mentioned only four
features it has 16 features when we talk about
phonetics I will tell you how those 16 features
come together so that we can produce a sound
like ah similarly others are look at another
sound curl as in-house as in heat okay look
at now for to happen no vibration of vocal
cords you just keep it switched off okay then
we have constriction of pharynx your lungs
constrict and then your jaws are open can
you say with closed doors close your Johns
and say you cannot all the different sounds
all the different sounds we produce we produce
people say 50 different kinds of sounds actually.
We produced 500 thousand million different
kinds of sounds no two songs on no sound is
spoken alike on two occasions what you speak
at 9 o'clock is not the same thing you speak
at 10 o'clock it is so dynamic into those
who do engineering in speech talk to them
go to computer science talk to they go to
their speech laboratory and you will find
that isolating this page characteristics of
sound is extremely difficult challenge okay
it is so dynamic because of these multiple
features so there are many phonic features
they combine to produce a sound similarly
there are features at each level at the level
of word at the level of phrase at the level
of sentence at the level of paragraph or discourse.
Okay and we understand them and then we describe
rules come back to it you know why is you
sound human you know natural language so unique
so complex and yet so easy so complex and
yet so is no mother sat down no grandmother
or grandfather sat down with a grandson and
told the grandson now open your jaws now beverage
your vocal cords did your grandfather say
that to you okay we do not but human beings
imbibe it that is the word imbibe they acquire
it they are programmed they are designed just
as you know fish are designed to swim birds
are designed to fly we may also fly some 2
meters 3 meters but not like birds we may
also swim for maybe 4 or 5 minutes underwater
without oxygen.
But we are not designed like fish so similarly
you know we are designed such that we imbibe
these features of language as we are born
or even before you are we are born today there
is overwhelming evidence a large body of evidence
from medical sciences from neurosciences from
child language that language learning begins
inside mother’s womb by the time the child
is about six months in mother’s womb you
know the brain formation is complete and language
learning has already begun okay.
What is it in our in us that learns language
is it mind which portion of body do you think
has language is language in our finger which
part of our body keeps language can you tell
me and where is brain then what is mind please
come on which has been mapped to specific
areas in the brain sir I mean if you damage
it something you cannot speak again but people
relearn it in a different way sir then do
they create another brain but usually it is
very specific areas in the brain that is what
we believe and that is where we are wrong
okay.
It is all over our body you can listen through
your fingers okay you can read through your
fingers can not you sorry can you read through
your fingers you can yes it is all over us
that is why in the in our classical literature
we do not use mind brain we use the word chaitana
consciousness it is all over because you know
even today we do not know where mind ends
and body begins do you know that can you say
up to here is mind you know our bald people
have no mind or bald people have only mind
can we say that we cannot say.
That we do not know where mind ends and body
begins we do not know what is the difference
between mind and brain we do not you know
lot of there are lot of you know clever definitions
some people say brain is the hardware mind
is the software wonderful good to hear you
know it makes a good essay but that is not
truth lot of people believe that language
as anuraag right said lies in the front left
part of the forehead people call it Broca's
area but there is enough evidence to prove
that even that is not correct it can be damaged
in an accident.
But through therapy you relearn it now do
you by relearning mean it another part of
the brain is built there is it do you acquire
a new for it you do not it is all over mans
we know hardly enough about mind brain and
how language works when I come to phonetics
and phonology I will tell you I will draw
your attention to more problems in this area
there are these problems we do not know enough
all I will say is we do not know enough yet
maybe in your generation your researchers
you guys will acquire that knowledge and disseminate
it to the world thought and words which came
first can you think of anything without words.
Can you think of anything without words can
you have words without thought can you have
a word which has nothing which is just like
a you know a bag a plastic bag carrying nothing
thought has words have thoughts they go together
what came first we do not know whether meaning
or word whether word or meaning okay they
are all together all we know is human beings
learn this acquire this language acquire natural
language almost effortlessly there may be
some instructions from family and friends
about more about social aspects.
Okay uncle Capernaum below say good morning
good morning to uncle poor you know 18 month
old kid why do not you leave it free let it
go around rather than teacher stupid you know
good morning Goodman you know Namesake Monday
chap indeed why are you travelling that little
kid what do you know nobody tells that little
kid now say passive voice have you have you
heard any parent saying that but we all learn
passive voice all of us in our languages also
you know my favorite joke is whenever the
milk was spilt my daughter said that her mother
said you spilt the milk but when it happened.
Because of my wife says the Ray the milk got
spilled due to Volga due to Georgia no hito
to Nigel Adia okay we all have active and
passive wise but did we did our mothers sit
down and tell us today my dear son my dear
daughter I am going to teach you how to use
passive voice in Hindi or in Telugu or in
Tamil they told us about social manners Thatha
patty nana grandfather or grandmother you
he gives you no credit to your father be kind
to him these things were you know we are told
but not about language we acquire it automatically
and it develops with exposure.
The only thing that is required is exposure
if you are exposed to language you learn language
that is the only precondition otherwise human
beings are designed to and yet there is difference
all of us learn our first languages equally
well but do why don't we learn subsequent
languages equally well there are some people
whose English and Telugu are equally good
there are some people whose English is better
than they are Telugu right when they speak
Telugu it seems as if they were speaking English
I know our people in Hindi.
When they speak Hindi it looks like they are
speaking English you know Hindi English intonation
English pronunciation as on aircrafts air
hostesses they use an affected accent there
are people lots of them whose Telugu is better
but English is not as good right now why does
this happen these are the questions for which
we do not have answers okay so it is a very
you know it is a challenging area of knowledge
it is a vast body of knowledge.
I will give this mail to Mahesh has will pass
this on to you I have at the end put a test
it self-tests give this test to yourself today
and try and see if you are able to do it and
then you will realize that this is language
okay then you will realize that language is
unique we may not know all of it we may not
have a grip on it but here is the goal a challenge
we have to learn okay you know the test is
very simple take a sentence like a brown fox
jumped over the lazy dog we can say this in
any language we can say that in Telugu how
would you say that in Telugu I can say that
in Hindi hey Boora kuitha a kales lowber kudkaiya.
Okay ake katha whoa a gorilla Mary a kales
kudkaie okay but can I say that in painting
in music maybe some excellent people can but
common and ordinary people cannot so do these
tests okay I will circulate it to my I will
give it to my hair cell my hands will circulate
it to you okay thank you.
Have a good day.
