LINGUISTICS

Contrastive Analysis Microlinguistics

Goal &
Macrolinguistics
Means

Framework

Levels Categories Models

 Contrastive Analysis

GOAL MEANS

Explanation of Description of
L2 learning the language

Psychology Linguistic
MICROLINGUISTICS: It is a branch of linguistics that concerns
itself with the study of language
systems in the abstract, without regard
to the meaning of expressions. The
language is reduced to the abstract
elements of syntax and phonology. Thus
the language is analyzed for their own
sake and without reference to their
social function.

MACROLINGUISTICS: It is a field of study concerned with the

language in its broadest sense and
including cultural and behavioural
features associated with language.
It embraces different aspects of
language.
 Semantics: the study of
meaning, changes in meaning and the
principles that govern the relation ship
between sentences or words and their
meanings.

 Sociolinguistics: a descriptive Macrolinguistics

study of the effects of any and all
aspects of society on the way
language is used and the effects of
language used on society.

 Ethnomethodology: It
refers to the analysis and
interpretation of every spoken
interaction.
 Discourse Analysis: It is
concerned with how we build up
“meaning” in the larger communicative
rather than grammatical units, meaning in
a text, paragraph, conversation, etc rather
than a single sentence.
Macrolinguistics
 Speech-act Theory: an approach
to the meaning of language which stresses
the use made of language, rather than the
literal meaning of the combined words.
Emphasis what we do with language
rather than what we say.
 FRAMEWORK

Levels Categories Models

Phonology Unit Structural or
Taxonomic
Grammar Structure Transformational
Generative
Class
Lexis
Contrastive
System Generative
Case
 LEVELS OF LANGUAGE

Level of phonology
Level of lexis
Level of morphology
Level of syntax

Procedural Orientation:

Phonology Morphology Syntax

Nowadays mixing is sometimes

Mixing Levels: necessary to account for some fact
of language.
 TWO STEPS
The stage of description

The stage of juxtaposition

for comparison
 FRAMEWORK

Levels Categories Models

Phonology Unit Structural or
Taxonomic
Grammar Structure Transformational
Generative
Class
Lexis
Contrastive
System Generative
Case
 CATEGORIES OF GRAMMAR

Linguistic descriptions are in terms of

these categories.

There are four categories : unit,

structure, class and system.
They are universal , that is they
are necessary and sufficient as a
basis for the description of any
language.
 Category: 1- UNIT

The Units of grammar are:

Sentence – Clause – Phrase – Word - Morpheme

Rank Scale
 UNIT
In CA usually single sentences are juxtaposed,
But the shortcoming is that sometime one word
in L1 is equivalent to a sentence in L2.
CA is concerned with the possibilities of maintaining 1:1
correspondence of units at ranks below sentence.
Example:

Interlingual
The pupil (who has fallen asleep) is Peter. (E) Rank
Der eingeschlafene Schuler ist Peter. (G) Shift
Two clauses in English while one in German
 FRAMEWORK

Levels Categories Models

Phonology Unit Structural or
Taxonomic
Grammar Structure Transformational
Generative
Class
Lexis
Contrastive
System Generative
Case
 Category: 2- STRUCTURE
“A structure is an arrangement of elements
ordered in “places” (Halliday)

Four syntactic structures in a sentence: subject, predicate, complement,

adjunct

Example:
Tom (S) took (P) the keys(C) from the table (A)
Structure
 A Structure in the level of phonology:
cccvc: strict
cvc: ‫راه‬

contrast in word structure:

apple: apples
Apfel: Äpfel
STRUCTURE

CA have traditionally focused on the category

structure: linear arrangement of clauses, phrases
and words

Examples:

1)- My father, who plays chess, is very patient.

Clause
Mein Vater, der Schach spielt, ist sehr geduldig.

3)- Past participle: gespielt / played

Word
Nouns plurals: Apfel-Apfel: / Apple-Apples
 FRAMEWORK

Levels Categories Models

Phonology Unit Structural or
Taxonomic
Grammar Structure Transformational
Generative
Class
Lexis
Contrastive
System Generative
Case
 Category: 3- CLASS

 There are restrictions on which units can

operate at given places in structures.
Example:
V Londone tumano (R) : * In London is foggy (E)

London is
foggy
…eine unter meinem Wagen schelafende Katze… : * a sleeping under my
car cat…

…A cat sleeping
under
class
 a certain group of words which can be
used in the same place in sentence.
like the class of verbs, or nouns
They have no …… .
They can …… .
 FRAMEWORK

Levels Categories Models

Phonology Unit Structural or
Taxonomic
Grammar Structure Transformational
Generative
Class
Lexis
Contrastive
System Generative
Case
 Category: 3- SYSTEM
 Each language allows its speaker choices from sets of
elements which are not determined by the place which the
element occupies in the structure.

CHOICE: “The selection of one particular term at one particular place

on the chain in preference to another term or other terms which are
also possible at that place” (paradigmatic)

 Systems operate over the domains of units: systems of

sentences, of clauses, of groups, of words and of morphemes .

Example: systems at clause rank: “mood”

Indicative Imperative

Declarative Interrogative
  Language may differ, not in demanding
different structural exponents, but in
offering different ranges of options.

System number
System of case

Singular Singular,
Nominative,
vs. Plural, Common
accusative,
Plural (E) Dual (A) and
genitive,
Genitive
instrumental,
(E)
prepositional
and dative
(R)
 FRAMEWORK

Levels Categories Models

Phonology Unit Structural or
Taxonomic
Grammar Structure Transformational
Generative
Class
Lexis
Contrastive
System Generative
Case
Model
 A theoretical framework for description of language.

 In description phase we should use the same model.

 Two linguists, can produce different analyses of the same

language data if they use different models in their
analysis.
 take took
 1- 1.Based on an item - and - process
teik//=//tƱk/( +/ Ʊ/ei)/
 past = present+ diphthong /eI/ replaced by the
vowel Ʊ

 2.Bsed on item - and – arrangement

-tƱk /=/t-k/+/-Ʊ//
Past=root+/Ʊ/inserted to mark past tense
Four main models

Structural or
Taxonomic
Transformational
Generative

Contrastive
Generative
Case
1- Structuralist Model
 developed and elaborated by Bloomfield and Harris.

 Immediate constituent (IC ) is the analytic technique =

any grammatical construction which can be reduced to pairs of
constituent.
 e.g.

i( Disgraceful disgrace + ful

ABC AB + C Unit
ii( Ungraceful un + graceful
ABC A+BC
 The same procedure applies to larger
constructions : phrases or sentences
e.g
 i) Nice old woman

A + B C Structure
 ii) Very old woman

A B + C
  John is the nicest boy who speaks French.

It has two Ics ,the main clause and the dependent clause
 In such analysis no reference is made to the
meaning of the constructions.
 Definitions are based on distribution: what goes
with what.

.e.g
N ii( Adv Adj N i( Adv Adj
rather nice girl rather nice girl

A construction A non-construction
Adj + N Adv + N
The weaknesses in the structural
model :
 She is a beautiful dancer.
This sentence contains an ambiguity which can not be
accounted for by IC.

The identity of the position or distribution is no guarantee of

identity of function. Structural models confine themselves to
observations about surface structure.

a) John is easy to please = It is easy to please John.

John stands in an Object-Verb relation to please
b)John is eager to please = *It is eager to please John.
John is in a Subject-Verb relation to please.
 Fries (1952) (a structuralist), defines grammar as “the
devices of form and arrangement”.
Arrangement: relative order of elements in constructions.

Formal devices operating at the level of grammar

are of three kinds:
1.Morphological markers like affixes
2.Function words Articles, preposition, conjunction
3.Suprasegmental Stress and intonation

In CA, we are likely to discover that L1 renders a certain

meaning by one device, while L2 conveys the same meaning
by another device.
 eg.
She gave the cat a rat.
S + V + IO + DO
In English direct object nouns are differentiated from indirect
objects by the later coming before the former.

 Sie gab der Katze eine Ratte.

 S + V + IO + DO
 German exploits morphology to achieve the same ends.
So there are three different ways for talking about how pairs of
language
:can differ

1.Level shifts
2.Rank shifts
3.Medium shifts
In the same level but different tools
Transformational –generative grammar
 T-GG elaborated by Chomsky
 Syntactic Structure(1957)
 Aspects of the Theory of Syntax(1965)

 The most important feature of this grammar:

 Recognizing two levels of deep and surface structure
 The two levels are related by transformations

 Reason for using T-GG in CA

 Explicitness: An explicit rule must be formulated for each step in
deriving Surface from deep structures.
 Universal Base Hypothesis: Deep structure are Universal

 Transformations as Formal Universal

English German
DS: I have an apple +The apple is red DS: Ich habe einen apfel. Der apfel ist rot

a. Relativisation a. Relativisation
I have an apple which is red
b. whiz- deletion b. dist deletion
I have an apple red
c. adjective shifting c. adjective shifting
I have a red apple .SS Ich habe einen roten Apfel. SS
 Explanation for sentential ambiguities :
It provides for the two languages identical, means for explaining the nature
of sentential ambiguities.

 The two different readings are derived from two different deep structures.

 The industrious Chinese dominate the economy of Asia.

 1- The Chinese who are industrious: restrictive
 2- the Chinese, who are industrous: nonrestrictive
 Reference to deep structure can explain different
surface-structure possibilities between languages.
 German
Der ganzen Nachmittag unter dem Wagen Schlafende Hund

 English
 The dog sleeping under the car
 The sleeping dog under the car

 So in TG we explain the difference between two languages through

difference in application of TRANSFORMATIONS on deep
structures.
Types of differences in rule application:

 1.One of the languages applies the rule, whereas the

other doesn't .

S1 S2 S1 S2

I know it+ they see him Ich weiß es + Sie sehen ihn

1- Embed S2 in S1
I know that they see him Ich weiß, daß Sie sehen ihn

2 O-V permutation in S2
)Does not apply( Ich weiß, daß Sie ihn sehen
Types of differences in rule application:

 2. In L1, the rules is obligatory ,but in L2 it’s optional (or

vice versa)
 Optional: The grammar generates equally correct
sentences irrespective of wheather the transformation
is applied.
That was the film )which( I saw
Das war the Film, DEN ich gesehen habe
*Das war the Film, ich gesehen habe
Object Relative Pronoun insertion
 Types of differences in rule application:

 3- Difference in the order of application

Transformational are extrinsically ordered ,or apply in a certain fixed
order.
In English, Reflexivisation should apply before Imperative rule.
You wash you.
You wash yourself. )Reflexivisation(
Wash yourserf! )Imperative(
While in German it can apply after that.
Sie waschen Sie
Waschen Sie Sie! )Imperative(
Waschen Sie sich! )Reflexivisation(
Types of differences in rule application:
 4- different scope of application
Some transformational are less specialised or have a border scope,
than others.
Copula Insertion rule in Engish & Russian
.‫ وجود ندارد‬to be ‫اصول باور بر این است که در زیرساخت فعل‬
 In English CIR applies, whenever there is no verb or auxiliary in
deep structure.
 But in Russian the application of this rule is more limited. It applies
only if the auxiliary is non-present in tense (past or future)
moj brat student
)My brother student(
Types of differences in rule application:

 5- Two different areas of the grammar call for the application of

one and the same transformational rule
English
The problem, about which John thought . . .
The problem which John thought about . . .
German
Das Problem, über das Hans dachte . . .
*Das Problem ,das Hans dachte über . . .
 Types of differences in rule application:

 6- Some rules imply others:

Not only do some transformational rules strictly precede or follow others but
sometimes some rules produce proper input for the application of others.
e.g:
Raising generates structures that undergo passivization in English:
1.They believe that John is a clever boy.
2.They believe John to be a clever boy. )raising(
3.John is believed)by them( to be a clever boy. )Passivisation(
German
No 2 is practically Non –existent. So No 3 does not exist.
*Hans Wird geglaubt, ein kluger zu sein.
 Microlinguistic Contrastive
Analysis
 Practical steps of doing CAs.
 No total ca of two languages sofar. Not feasable
 So its better to do relevant parts of CA not two whole languages.
 According to Corder, description should be parallel: describing parallel levels
through the same model.
 Although different models are suitable for different facet of language.
 ‫مثل یک مدل خاص ممکن است بهتر بتواند یک زبان خاص را توصیف کند‬.
 If you don’t use the same model: it is not clear whether 1- the observed
differences are because of difference in models: description induced
contrast
 2- or because of difference in linguistic structures: data induced contrast
 Dilemma:
 On one hand good reasons for using the same model
 On the other hand practical reasons for using different
models
 2ways out of this dilemma:
 1- using two models but then translating the 2 description
into a form which is model-neutral. : a language which is a
composite of the two, a ‘supralingua’ containing features of
both languages.
 2- no need to describe the 2 languages equally.

since usually the second language need more description.

Less attention needs to be paid to l1. So chose a model which is
more suitable for L2.
Types or Tokens?
 In the second phase we describe types not tokens.
structures rather than sounds
Pronoun+1st Person+Sing- Auxiliary –Past, Participle

I have arrived.

Pronoun+1st Person+Sing-Prefix+Verb+Perfective+Past+Feminine

Ya prishla
A type is an idealisation which represents an infinite number of realisations.
A sentence is the basis of many utterances.
Utterances : stretches of parole produced by native speakers out of
sentences generated by system of elements and rules which constitute
the Langue
 Practical steps of doing

CA
1- Assemble relevant data in two languages

 2- State the realisation of each grammatical category for each language

 3- Supplement more data.

 4- Formulate the contrast:

 either in terms of imbalanced equations: Item and Arrangement
 or in terms of operations: Item and Process: a set of instructions
which , when applied to the grammar of one language , will yield the
grammar of another language
 Phonological CA
 Phonetics is concerned with three types of physical reality.
1- articulatory phonetics: movement of speech organs
2- acoustic phonetics: acoustic features (aspiration of p in French and
English)
3- auditory phonetics: hearing process + brain activity

Phonology: the way sounds function in a language.

how many of them are used in a language.
not he physical reality but the mental reality
dark l in English and Russian
 Four steps in a contrastive sound
system
 1- draw up the phonemic inventory of L1 and L2

 2- equate phonems interlingually

 3- list the phonemic variants (allophones)

 4- determine the distributional restrictions

Phonological Models: taxonomic vs.
generative
 Taxonomic:
 Determining the phonemic system, combinational possibilities of
phonems (phonotactics) and allophones
 Through comparison of two systems it provides the relative
difficulties of pronunciation hypothetically.
 But not always ture:
 Consonant clusters in German which are not present in English.

 Or claim that whenever a sound is not present in one language
the native speakers cannot perceive that sound but the sound

 Generative Phonology
 Surface structure phonology is derived from the deep
structure phonology by transformation.: phonological rules
mediate between phonetic and phonemic level.

 Distinctive features: with plus minus values

 Universality of features
 Macrolinguistics and CA
Microlinguistic has a traditional approach.
Like mathematic and formal logic; deals with abstract formal
aspect of language.
An idealization of data (in micro):
1- regularization:
Lang is full of mixed constructions, hesitations, fals starts and
etc. because of memory limitations, distractions, and shift of
attention.
These should be regularized out of data.

2- standardization:
Selection of standard dialect for description
3-decontextualization: studing isolated sentences
a: by removing the sentence from preceding and following Ss: cotext
b: by seperating it from the real-world situation:context

In Mac. ; study of language in relation to social, psychological,

and cultural context.

Mac ; scientific understanding of how people communicate

Shift of attention from code to process
from langue to parole
Object of linguistic studies: Communicative Competence
 Hymes (1974) identifies six variables which he suggests the ethnographer of
speaking must refer to in characterizing any particular speech event: setting,
participants, purpose, key, content and channel.
 Setting: the time and place of speech
 PARTICIPANTS: Addressor, speaker, addresse and audience
 PURPOSE: persuasion, commanding
 KEY : ‘tone, manner or spirit’ in which the speech act is performed
 CONTENT: what one is talking about: taboo
 CHANNEL:speech and writing
 Two areas of
 Macrolinguistics
Broadening of scope: units of linguistic organization larger than the
single sentence.
1- On formal level: text linguistics:
Concerned with formal devices used for establishing inter-sentential
connections and units above sentence

2- On functional level: discourse analysis:

Correlation of situational variables with linguistic variables
 Widdowson’s distinction between use and usage
Use : grammaticality of sentence
Usage : use in appropriate context

Appropriacy:
1- formal: not violating textual organization= cohesive text
2- functional: communicates what its speaker intends= coherence
Violation of this principle = incoherence= breakdown in
communication
Example:
A: Who broke the window.
B1: What John broke was the window.= incohesive
B2: John has studied Biophysics. = incoherent
 Text Analysis
 Text Analysis is concerned with different types of relationship
among sentences in a text. : intertextuality of sentences in
the text.
 The following text demonstrates lake of cohesion in the text:

i. He will give you the name of one or two suitable doctors.

ii. Should there be any hitch, ask to speak to the physician-in-chief.
iii. If you need a doctor for your child in a strange town, find the name of the
best hospital.
iv. The physician-in-chief will in all probability not be a children’s specialist.
v. Telephone and ask for the name of a pediatrician on the staff.
 Formal devices of
textuality:
 Lexical
Foremost among the lexical cohesive devices are the relations of synonymy
and hyponym.
Doctor for your child = pediatrician
doctor = pediatrician + physician + specialist

cohyponyme
Usually hypernymy which is more general is used at the beginning of the text
in more general sentences = in topic sentences

There are also simple to complex lexical correspondences

Lexical items which summarize complete propositions

One hundred hours a week were devoted to study and 45 minutes to football.
This bias was not wholly popular.
 Grammatical
Halliday and hasan identify four major grammatical means of
textual cohesion in English:
reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction
1- REFERENCE:
A. exophoric: refence to real world

1- anaphoric: back-referring (p. 106.1)

B. endophoric: reference in text
2- cataphoric: anticipatory reference (p. 106.2)

2- ELLIPSIS: creating cohesion by leaving out what can be inferred by

preceding discourse
Ellipsis can be either anaphoric or cataphoric. (page. 107. 2)
3- Comparison
Comparison is not invariably located in one sentences, although this is
probably the most economical and most explicit way of stating comparison,
as in:
John is more intelligent than his sister.
There are ten boys in his class. John is the most intelligent.

4- parallel structure
Two or three sentences with parallel structure
To tie the sentences together conceptually
i.Have you ever seen a pig? Have you ever seen a fish walk?
ii.My painting the visitors admired. My sculptures they dislike.(sov)
To indicate that the two sentences are to be read as contrast
Functional Sentences
Perspective
 Analysis of sentences in perspective of their function
 Successive sentences in the text must do two things: they must
be informative, and , at the same time be relevant.

 Informative: presenting ‘new’ information

 Relevant: information which is already known to the reader ,

‘given’ either by preceding context or by the situational context.
In FSP terms, ‘given’ information are ascribed to the function
Theme, and ‘new’ information to the function Rheme.

In English usually Subject is Theme and Object is Rheme and

verb is referred to as the Transition between the two. (in
unmarked structures)

But this order can be different in marked sentences, through

transposing object to sentences-initial position (page110)
Or through Tonic Stress
But since the word order is relatively fixed in English, there are
other linguistic tools used for the same function.

Cleft Sentences: It was John who red the lesson

Pseudo-cleft: starting with WHAT
 PASSIVISATION:
 The basic function of the passive transformation is
to reorder, relative to one another, the two
semantic categories Agent and Goal.
i) John has picked these strawberries
Agent Active Goal
Theme Transformation Rheme
ii) These strawberries were picked by john
Goal passive Agent
Theme Transformation Rheme
 DEFINITNESS-MARKING:
 In English Theme or Given information is presented with a
definite article. (page 112)

 However the Slavonic languages, while they enjoy a greater

freedom of word-order than English, have no article system,
unlike English, and word order shows the definiteness of the
words.
 Contrastive Text Analysis
 three possible approaches:
Textual characterization
Text type
Translated text
 Textual characterization
What types of devices for achieving textual cohesion
Every language uses certain set of devices for cohesion
While ellipsis is a mark of “good style” in English,
In Mayan languages, repetition is a sign of “good style” .
Put a ring on his hand and put shoes on his feet.
The job of CA is to explore the type and the frequency of these
devices in each language.
 Text typology:
Different types of text perform different function
According to Nida:
functions: 1- expressive: poems, narratives
2- informative: news reports, journal papers, text books
3- imperative: instructions
Point: Texts are seldom pure: not just one of the three functions

One single text: maybe of three functions

But what concerns CA is what the features of each type in each
language are.

Institutionalised text types: texts that perform certain conventional

function in the daily life of a society, such as , commercials, official
letters, maintenance instructions,…
 Translated texts:
 Can be a basis for textual CA.
 But limitations interference from
source language transferring features of the
source language to the target language.

 Another case: in bilingual society paired text:

In road signs and press announcements usually
independently produced text.
But even these text may suffer from impaired
translation.
Discourse Analysis
 is not one about form but about its use.
 Discourse analysis functionality
Speech Acts: we do things through languages,
Such as, asking, refusing, describing, condemning
Functions of speech act:
1- marked: by specific verbs like warn
2- implicit: without explicit words
 I advise you to see a doctor.
 I’d see doctor if I were you.
 According to Austin:
All performatives can be reduced to a sentence
beginning with a performative verb.

Discourse Markers: show the function of sentences

and the logical relationships between sentences.

Discourse Markers are optional (120)

Depending on context and how precise we need to be.