LING 220 Lecture 2: 1-25
Document Summary
Prescriptive grammar: description of how you should speak. Descriptive grammar: description of how you actually speak. Mental grammar: knowledge of language inside your head. Try to understand properties of mental grammar and write descriptions of it. The linguist"s job is to uncover our knowledge of language. Words - how to pronounce them, what they mean. Sentences - how to put words together in a coherent fashion (not necessarily eloquent but also not word salad) Discourse - how to use sentences to convey thoughts and ideas. This is a linguistics course that is taught by prof. parker. This is a linguistics course that is taught by prof. parker at w&m. This is a linguistics course that is taught by prof. parker at w&m in va . Our brain has a finite amount of space. Suggestion: store finite list of units and rules for combining units instead. Reduces the complexity of learning language for a child.
