Figures
Said language is a structured system of signs governed by internal rules.
Saussurre
The linguistic ties (e.g., pronouns, conjunctions, lexical relations) that link different parts of a text together, creating a sense of connection.
Cohesion
A Neo-Grammarian linguist known for Verner's Law, which explained apparent exceptions to earlier sound change rules in Indo-European languages.
Karl Verner
In SFL, the language variation associated with a specific context of situation, defined by Field, Tenor, and Mode.
Register
Cognitive linguistic. LAD, competence vs performance, Universal Grammar, Mental Grammar
Noam Chomsky
Modern Linguistics began with this figure after his discover in 1786 that Sanskrit had affinities with Classical, Germanic, and Celtic languages
Sir William Jones
(Chomsky) A speaker's internalized, unconscious knowledge of the rules of their language system.
Competence
In SFL, the organization of language into distinct but related layers or strata: Semantics (meanings), Lexicogrammar (wordings), and Phonology/Graphology (sounds/writing).
Stratification
(Saussure) The sound image or form of a linguistic sign.
Signifier
Develops the Stammbaumtheorie (Family Tree Theory), proposing that languages evolve like biological trees from an original language (Ursprache). He is influenced by Darwin's theory of evolution and even writes a fable in reconstructed Proto-Indo-European.
August Schleicher
American descriptivism. Focused on scientific, behaviorist approach to language.
Bloomfield
Linguistic expressions whose meaning is dependent on the context of utterance, particularly the speaker, time, and place (e.g., "I," "here," "now"). Types include person, spatial, temporal, discourse, and social.
Deixis
Developed ethnography of communication- language is shaped by social and cultural context.
SPEAKING MODEL
Dell Hymes
An approach to linguistics (and other fields) that viewslanguage as a system of interrelated elements where the value or meaningof each element is defined by its relationship and difference from otherelements in the system.
Structuralism
coined "context of situation": meaning depends on social and situational factors.
Famous quote: "you shall know a word by a company it keeps"--- collocation analysis
Founded the London School of Linguistics
JR Firth
Rejected the idea that all speech is about information.
Introduced phatic communion: language used to build social contact
Very important for pragmatics and sociolinguistics.
Bronislaw Malinowski
Playful or humorous rudeness, such as banter orteasing among close friends, which can strengthen social bonds rather than threaten face.
Mock Impoliteness
In Case Grammar, the number of semantic roles (participants) that a verb requires.
Valency
The linear relationships between linguistic units that occur in sequence in a structure (e.g., subject followed by verb followed by object). Also called Combinatory.
Syntagmatic Relations:
Showed social class affects pronunciation.
Studied AAVE as ruled-based, legitimate variety.
Proved that variation is systematic, not random--- and socially meaningful
William Labov
Generative Grammar was actually introduced by this figure and NOT Chomsky. Simply DEVELOPED by Chomsky
Zellig Harris
Language used primarily to establish and maintain social contact and solidarity, rather than to convey information (e.g., small talk about the weather).
Phatic Communion
Linguists known for their textbook Discourse Analysis, which highlights the cognitive and pragmatic processes involved in understanding language beyond the sentence level, emphasizing the role of context, inference, and mental models
Gillian Brown & George Yule
(Schleicher) The hypothetical original language from which a family of languages is believed to have descended.
Ursprache
A 19th-century linguist and philosopher who viewed language as an activity (energeia) rather than just a product. He introduced the concept of innere Sprachform (inner form of language) and contributed to language typology based on morphological structure.
Wilhelm von Humboldt