Recreational linguistics

general courses

One of the course’s goals is to present recreational linguistics as a new subdiscipline of interdisciplinary linguistics. It joins disciplines of linguistics such as: general linguistics, comparative linguistics, computer linguistics and other fields of science: anthropology, mathematics (logic thinking, counting), ethnolinguistics, ethnomathematics, history of writing etc. The main objective of recreational linguistics is spreading linguistic knowledge in an informal way (logic puzzles, linguistics workshops, lectures and papers on languages in popular science).

Its other goals are: encouraging young people to study linguistics and anthropology or just to take an interest in other cultures/languages; informing about endangered and dying languages (and cultures). It also helps improve educational skills such as: logical thinking and deduction.

UNIT 1 - Introduction (1 week)

1. Basics of recreational linguistics (LR) – goals; how is LR applied?

2. Beginnings of LR – recreational mathematics.

3. For a good start: how to solve a puzzle of LR?

a) Problem no 1

Unit 2 – Origins of language (2 weeks)

1. The most popular theories of the beginning of language (i.e. agricultural development of language)

2. Language diversity of the world. (Biolinguistic diversity, Papua New Guinea)

3. Typology. Language families

4. Modality – phonic languages and sign languages (i.e. features of human language by Ch. Hockett).

a) Test (1)

b) Problem no 2

UNIT 3 – Ethnomathematics (2 weeks)

What is ethnomathematics? Are counting skills inherent? The beginning of numeral systems.

1. The beginning of numbers. Where did the zero come from?

2. Numeral systems of the world.

3. Numerals and classificators – how and what can you count?

a) Problem no 3

UNIT 4 - Writing (2 weeks)

The beginning of writing.

1. Short history of writing.

2. Writing systems of the world – classification.

a) Test (2)

b) Problem no 4

3. Deciphered ancient scripts: hieroglyphs, Mayan glyphs and Linear B. Undeciphered systems.

a) Test (3)

b) Problem no 5

UNIT 5 – Linguistic Universals. (2 weeks)

Introduction to the theory of linguistic universals (adapted from N. Chomsky).

1. Universal grammar – foundation of linguistic universals. [Fragments of Levinson and Evans’s article]. Classificators in languages of the world.

a) Test (4)

2. Phonetics/Phonology (Basic information, IPA, interesting phonetic/phonological features of languages)

a) Problem no 6

3. Morphology (introduction, agglutinative languages, issues with separating parts of speech)

a)Problem no 7

4. Syntax (main structures: S,V,O, / indirect, direct object)

a) Problem no 8

UNIT 6 – Kinship and affinity (1 week)

Basic terms for describing kinship and marriage relations in languages of the world.

1. Kinship relations– based on the hierarchy of age, on someone’s sex, speaking person etc.

a) Test (5)

b) problem no 9

UNIT 7 – Endangered languages. (1 week.)

Short description of the status of endangered languages.

1. How many endangered languages are there in the world? How many have already died?

2. Evaluation criteria of levels of endangered languages..

3. Cause of endangerment. (so called: mammoth-languages / dinosaurs-languages/panda-languages… linguistic politics, sociological reasons, natural disasters)

b) Test (6)

c) Problem no 10

UNIT 8 – Problem (1 week)

Participants construct their own puzzle.

1. Helpful instructions for the puzzle.

2. Resources: IOL, NACLO, OLTMiS etc.

3. Useful links.

1. Barrow J., 1996, Pi razy drzwi: szkice o liczeniu, myśleniu i istnieniu, Wydawnictwo: Prószyński i S-ka.

2. Aitchison J., 2002, Ziarna mowy Początki i rozwój języka, PIW Warszawa.

3. Brown K., Ogilvie S., 2008, Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world, Elsevier, Oxford University Press.

4. Keith A., 1977, Classifiers, „Language” vol. 53 nr 2, s.285-287, http://links.jstor.org/sici=0097-8507%28197706%2953%3A%3C285%3E2.0CO%B2-1.

5. Rosner K., 1995, Teoria języka i umysłu ludzkiego Noama Chomsky'ego i jego interdyscyplinarna doniosłość, [w:] Noama Chomsky'ego próba rewolucji naukowej, t. 1, Warszawa.

6. Evans N., 2010, Dying words: endangered languages and what they have to tell us, John Wiley and Sons, Singapore.

7. Nettle D., Romaine S., 2000, Vanishing voices: the extinction of the world's languages, Oxford University Press.

8. Crystal D., 2002, Language death, Cambridge University Press.

9. Harrison K.D., 2007, When languages die: the extinction of the world's languages and the erosion of human knowledge, Oxford University Press.

10. Schmitt B., Zhang S., 1998, Language structure and categorization: a study of classifiers in consumer cognition, judgment and choice, „The Journal of Consumer Research”, tom 25. nr 2, s. 108-122.

11. Hockett Ch., 1979, Z zagadnień uniwersaliów językowych, [w:] Kurkowska H., Weisenberg A. (red.), Językoznawstwo strukturalne ,Warszawa: PWN (część o uniwersaliach definicyjnych).

12. Kennealyy C., 2008, The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language, Penguin.

13. Gardner M., 1994, My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles, Dover Pubn Inc.

14. Modality and Structure in Signed and Spoken Languages, 2006, Meier R.P., Cormier K., Quinto-Pozos D. (red.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

15. Robinson A., 2009, The Story of Writing. Alphabets, Hieroglyphs and Pictograms, Londyn: Thames and Hudson.

16. Evans N., Levinson S.C., 2009, The myth of language universals: Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 32, 429–492.

17. Łuczyński E., Maćkiewicz J., 2009, Językoznawstwo ogólne. Wybrane zagadnienia, Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego.

18. A.F. Majewicz, 1989, Języki świata i ich klasyfikowanie, Warszawa.

19. Encyklopedia językoznawstwa ogólnego, 1993, red. K. Polański, Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków.

20. Wybrane artykuły ze strony http://www.ethnomath.org/, np. Spagnolo F., History and Ethno-Mathematics in the interpretation of the process of learning/teaching.

21. Grzegorczykowa R., 2006, Wykłady z polskiej składni, Warszawa: PWN.

22. Grzegorczykowa R., 2007, Wstęp do językoznawstwa, Warszawa: PWN, s. 22-33.

23. Język, dyskurs, społeczeństwo, 2009, red. Naukowa Rasiński L., Warszawa: PWN.

24. Grzegroczykowa R., Laskowski R., Wróbel H. (red.), 1984, Gramatyka współczesnego języka polskiego. Morfologia, Warszawa: PWN.

25. Guedj D., 2007, Numbers. The Universal Language, London : Thames and Hudson.

26. Lunde P., 2009, The Secrets of Codes. Understanding the world of hidden messages, Londyn: A&C Black.

27. Nakanishi A., 1990, Writing Systems of The World, Boston-Rutland, Vermont-Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing.

28. Kuckenburg M., 2006, Pierwsze słowo. Narodziny mowy i pisma, PIW.

29. Dierzhanski I., 2009, Linguistic Magic and Mystery, Bulgaria: Union of Bulgarian Mathematics.

30. Robinson A., 2009, Lost Languages. The Enigma of the World’s Undeciphered Scripts, London: Thames and Hudson.

31. Schnandt D., 2007, Jak powstało pismo, Warszawa: Agade.

32. Kordos M., 2007, Wykłady z historii matematyki, Warszawa: Script.

33. Stewart I., 2009, Oswajanie nieskończoności. Historia matematyki, Warszawa: Prószyński i S-ka.

34. Mafudikwa S., 2007, African Alphabets. The Story of Writing In Africa, New York: Mark Batty Publisher.

35. Austin P.K., 2008, 1000 języków, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Student:

KNOWLEDGE

1. Enumerates the most important theories of language origin.

2. Defines the terms: language family (group), modality, classificator, natural language, phoneme, and morpheme.

3. Recognizes all features of human language adopted from Ch. Hockett.

4. Names writing systems of the world; lists the most important deciphered scripts (hieroglyphs, Mayan glyphs, Linear B).

5. Describes causes of the endangerment of natural languages.

SKILLS

1. Critically judges linguistic theories on features of human languages and on linguistic universals.

2. Solves puzzle of recreational linguistics basing on elementary grammar knowledge (of phonology, morphology, syntax).

3. Explains origin and relations among world writing systems.

4. Composes own puzzle of recreational linguistics.

ATTITUDE

1. Celebrates cultural and linguistic diversity of the world.

2. Recognizes language as a value in and of itself.

To get credit, a student has to:

1. solve 6 tests

2. solve 10 puzzles of recreational linguistics

3. compose his/her own puzzle

4. Pass the final exam (questions based on materials from course and one puzzle)

No.