Module A

Practical class # 1

The scope of linguistics. Definition of language.

1. General linguistics as a science. Its relations with other sciences.

2. The scope of linguistics.

3. The two related sides of the linguistic phenomenon.

4. Make the linguistic analysis of the text.

Practical class # 2

Internal and external linguistics.

1. Internal elements of language.

2. External elements of language.

3. Make the linguistic analysis of the text.

Practical class # 3

Influence of writing; reasons for its ascendance over the spoken form.

1. Need for studying the subject.

2. Two distinct systems of signs.

3. The influence of writing.

4. Systems of writing.

5. Reasons for the discrepancy between writing and pronunciation.

6. Make the linguistic analysis of the text.

Practical class # 4

Sign, signified, signifier.

1. Definition of sign.

2. The arbitrary nature of the sign.

3. The linear nature of the signifier.

4. Make the linguistic analysis of the text.

Module B

Practical class # 1

Immutability and mutability of the sign.

1. Immutability: general characteristics.

2. Important considerations.

3. Mutability.

4. Make the linguistic analysis of the text.

Practical class # 2

General synchronic linguistics.

1. The aim of general synchronic linguistics.

2. Definition: entity and unit.

3. Make the linguistic analysis of the text.

Practical class # 3

The two perspectives of diachronic linguistics.

1. The subject of diachronic linguistics.

2. The diachronic character of phonetics.

3. The diachronic character of grammar.

4. Make the linguistic analysis of the text.

Practical class # 4

Complications of geographical diversity.

1. Coexistence of several languages at the same point.

2. Literary language and local idiom.

3. Make the linguistic analysis of the text.

Practical class # 5

Causes of geographical diversity.

1. Time, the basic cause.

2. The two forces reduced to one.

3. Linguistic differentiation on separate territories.

4. Make the linguistic analysis of the text.

APPENDIX

COMPLICATIONS OF GEOGRAPHICAL DIVERSITY

1. Coexistence of Several Languages at the Same Point

Up to this point geographical diversity has been presented in its ideal form: there were as many territories as there were different languages. And our method was justifiable, for geographical separation is still the most general force in linguistic diversity. But there are secondary facts that disturb the ideal relationship and cause several languages to coexist in the same territory.

Two things we pass over. First is the real, organic mixture or interpenetration of two idioms that results in a change in the system (cf. English after the Norman Conquest). Second is the political accident of several languages clearly separated in space but included within the boundaries of the same state, as in Switzerland. The only fact that concerns us is that two idioms can exist side by side in the same place without intermingling. This occurs frequently, but is of two kinds.

First, newcomers may superimpose their language on the indigenous language. For instance, in South Africa, two successive colonizations introduced Dutch and English, which now exist alongside several Negro dialects; in the same way, Spanish was implanted in Mexico. Nor are such linguistic encroachments peculiar to modern times. Throughout the centuries nations have intermingled and still kept their idioms distinct. To realize this fact we need only glance at a map of modern Europe: Ireland, with Celtic and English; many of the Irish speak both languages. In Brittany, French and Breton. In the Basque region, French and Spanish as well as Basque. In Finland, Swedish and Finnish have coexisted for a rather long time, and Russian has been added more recently. In Courland and Livonia, Lettish, German and Russian are spoken; German, which was brought in by colonists under the auspices of the Hanseatic League during the Middle Ages, belongs to a special segment of the population; Russian subsequently entered by conquest. Lithuania witnessed the implantation of Polish alongside Lithuanian as a consequence of her former union with Poland, and of Russian as a result of annexation. Until the eighteenth century Slavic and German were used throughout the section of Germany that lies to the east of the Elbe. In other countries languages are even more entangled: in Macedonia every imaginable language is found — Turkish, Bulgarian, Serbian, Greek, Albanian, Rumanian, etc. — and the languages are mixed in different ways in different regions.

Coexisting languages are not always absolutely entangled; there may be a certain relative territorial distribution. Of two languages, one may be spoken in town and the other in the country, but such a distribution is not always clear-cut.

The story was the same in ancient times. A linguistic map of the Roman Empire would show facts like those already described. Toward the close of the Republic, for instance, Campania numbered three or four languages: Oscan, attested by the inscriptions of Pompeii; Greek, the language of the colonists who founded Naples, etc.; Latin; and perhaps even Etruscan, which was the dominant language before the arrival of the Romans. In Carthage, Punic or Phoenician persisted beside Latin (it still existed during the period of the Arab invasion), and Numidian was certainly spoken in Carthaginian territory. One might also suppose that during ancient times unilingual countries in the Mediterranean Basin were the exception.

Invasion is the usual cause of superimposition, but it may also come through peaceful penetration in the form of colonization. Or nomadic tribes may take their dialect with them: that is what the Gypsies did, especially those who settled in Hungary, where they form compact villages; study of their language shows that they must have come from India at some unknown time in the past. In Dobruja, at the mouth of the Danube, scattered Tatar villages show up Uke tiny specks on the linguistic map of the region.